A different way of telling a story

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Last week I reviewed a film called The Contender. The title would have been even more appropriate for this week's film Pay It Forward. In the 1954 Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront Marlon Brando has a great speech in which he says, "I could've been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am." I left Pay It Forward thinking a great deal about what it could have been.The premise is engaging. Kevin Spacey plays a middle-school teacher who challenges his students to come up with a strategy for changing the world. One of his students, Trevor, comes up with the interesting idea that is the heart of the film. He says that we worry about paying people back when they do us a favor--maybe we should pay it forward. He decides that he will do something for three different people, instructing them each to do something positive for three other people instead of paying him back. If this exponential altruism catches on it might just change the world.One of Trevor's not-so-random acts of kindness is to get his mother together with his teacher. Trevor is an only child living with an overworked alcoholic mother. His teacher is a single man with a badly scarred face. He knows that they would be good for each other and does everything he can to get them together.There are, of course, complications. The primary weakness of the film is best described by quoting Richard Foster. Foster tells of a publisher who responded to a manuscript by saying "this is original and creative . . . unfortunately the parts that are original are not creative, and the parts that are creative are not original." Once we get past the engaging premise the film becomes a virtual compendium of cliches. We move back and forth between the chain of altruism and the budding romance but both plot lines are chock full of melodramatic machinations.The sad thing is that with a little better writing this could have been an excellent film. The performances are outstanding. Kevin Spacey is excellent as always, Helen Hunt gives one of the best performances of her career, and Haley Joel Osment proves that he is, pound for pound, one of the best actors working.I liked the film overall, but I really wanted to like it more than I did. In this season where we are drowning in the politics of self-interest, anything that encourages civility and compassion is a refreshing change. My expectations were so high that I left a bit disappointed. I am hoping that if I lower your expectations you might see it and like it more than you thought you would. It would please me greatly to do you that small favor. If it does work out that way, no need to thank me or pay me back, just pay it forward.

The film can't decide if it wants to be a comedy or a drama and disappoints on both levels, with an ending more suited for a drama but ultimately feels completely wrong for this movie. Despite the novel idea and a brilliant cast, all the elements just doesn't come together. The film toys with our emotions but doesn't stir any of my senses.

"Pay it Forward" was showing again on TV recently. I knew I had seen it at the cinema when it first came out but, strangely, couldn't remember anything about it at all, except the general premise of paying favours or good deeds forward. So, as I felt a dose of positivism would do me some good, I thought I'd watch it again. It turned out that my mind had good reason for blocking out memory of this film. About an hour and three quarters into it, as it continued to meander ineffectually without really getting anywhere, I was already considering the benefits of tighter editing. And it would also be hard to find more stereotyped characters outside a cartoon. From the funky black jailbird, and the would-be reporter who discovers his breakthrough scoop, through main character Trevor's trailer-trash Mum, her bag-lady mother, all the way to poor bullied Adam. OK, the heartstrings did get tugged, and for four fifths of the film, I was prepared to go along with the tugging, as forgettable as it was.But just when all seems over bar the tears of happy resolution, Trevor intervenes in a bullying incident that has completely unexpected - and what could only be considered completely illogical - consequences. And I doubt that this ending would have been unfathomable only for people who live in a country where bullying incidents in the first year of secondary school are not likely to end up in the morgue. I presume this movie did not do much to encourage international exchange students to attend American high schools! Like so much of this film, this ending was more a case of lazy-minded writing, direction and story-telling. What were they thinking? "Hey man, we just gotta kill the kid, or it just ain't gonna woik!"And then - of all things - to finish off we get a brazen copy of the final scene from "Field of Dreams" (think headlights of cars coming from all directions) to give a kind of cosmic Christ-like significance to Trevor's sacrifice (?). Was this a box-office bribe or desperation? "Yup! If ya kill him, they will come." Maybe. But they'll sure also go away very dissatisfied and welcoming of a complete memory block.

It's impossible not to get emotionally manipulated by "Pay It Forward" because the film hits nearly every dramatic stereotype and is manufactured in a way that basically forces you to get sad at least for a little bit. The movie is about a sweet young man, so pure and innocent that when his social-studies teacher gives him an assignment to make the world a better place, he comes up with a model that he believes will change everything. Trevor (Haley Joel Osment) proposes to create a movement of "paying it forward". You do one favor for a complete stranger and instruct them to do the same for three other people. If the project goes as planned, the amount of men, women and children whose lives are improved by random acts of kindness will be incalculable.You name it and it's here: suicide, addiction to drugs, alcoholism, parental abandonment, bullying, martyrdom, poverty, children running away from home, spousal abuse and even a tiny sprinkle of sexual abuse too. If any of these subjects hit an emotional nerve, you will get at least partially sucked into the drama of the film, but it's impossible not to be. Not In a good way either, with character development and genuine intrigue in the lives of these people. This movie just comes in like a puppet master and forces you to feel the way you do. While it does have good intentions I found that the plot was so over-the-top that it felt phoney. Kevin Spacy, Hellen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment are all good, and if the film had been limited to the drama between these three characters it would have been a satisfying story. It's a shame that it didn't try to work on a smaller scale because then it could have been an inspirational tale. With the over-the-top ending it really feels like it's desperate to make you emotional and ultimately I found it more laughable than tear-jerking. (On DVD, October 31, 2012)