Pay It Forward (2000)

reviewed by
Laura Clifford


PAY IT FORWARD
--------------

Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey) makes a big impression on his social studies class because of his badly burned face. His assignment, which will cover the entire school year, quickly takes their minds, and particularly the mind of Trevor (Haley Joel Osment, "The Sixth Sense"), the sensitive son of a single alcoholic mom (Helen Hunt), off his appearance. Mr. Simonet challenges his seventh grade students to change the world.

LAURA:

Director Mimi Leder ("Deep Impact") needed to walk a fine line to keep "Pay It Forward" from playing like schmaltz. She mostly succeeds, except for an unfortunate and cliched choice made in the film's final minutes.

Trevor take his assignment gravely and comes up with the 'pay it forward' concept - do something really big that will help one person and that person should repay the favor by doing something for three people. Trevor begins by bringing a homeless drug addict (Jim Caviezel, "The Thin Red Line") home for food, a place to stay and a shower. Mom's not thrilled when she awakens from a drunken stupor to find a stranger in her garage, but eventually comes around to Trevor's way of thinking when Jerry turns out to be a worthy cause.

Trevor's next project is his mom, who he attempts to hook up romantically with his teacher. Mr. Simonet doesn't drink and Trevor reasons that a new man will make mom strong when his shiftless alcoholic dad (Jon Bon Jovi) next comes a'calling. His final project, keeping schoolmate Adam from being beaten up by bullies, plays like a bit of an afterthought.

While these peoples' lives are unfolding in Las Vegas, a second story proceeds in reverse order, beginning in LA. Jay Mohr ("Jerry Maguire") is a reporter who is given a new Jaguar by a lawyer when his own car is totalled at a crime scene. The cynical journalist wrests the 'pay it forward' story out of his benefactor and begins to trace it back, determined to find the root.

Osment once again proves his acting ability as the seriously determined Trevor. He seems wise beyond his eleven years, yet can still cut loose and act his age. Spacey stretches as the somewhat square teacher who finds himself attracted to a woman of a far different economical and educational background. He carries himself stiffly, befitting both his emotional wariness and his physical condition. Hunt, looking leathery and overly made up, is his opposite. She's all breathy and sloppily emotional. This is a far different single-mom- of-troubled-son-with-unusual-male-suitor than she played in "As Good As It Gets," although I'm willing to bet she gets criticized for replaying that role.

Caviezel is a convincing addict, trying and failing to get straight. Mohr applies that slightly slimy quality that served him well in "Maguire." Angie Dickinson is surprisingly effective as a homeless drunk who lives in her car. Bon Jovi doesn't get a lot of screen time and is merely the stock 'wrong guy.'

I haven't read the book by Catherine Ryan Hyde so am unsure if screenwriter Leslie Dixon ("The Thomas Crown Affair") deserves the blame for the three hanky ending which doesn't serve the film well. She does work the two reverse timelines deftly and the dialogue mostly sounds natural. Hunt and Spacey have an extraordinary exchange when Arlene finally admits why Trevor's troubled - 'My friends are all drunks and so am I.' 'I believe some people refer to that as being in recovery,' responds Simonet. The two also have an awkward, actory dialogue when Simonet reveals how he was burned. These two scenes exhibit the good writing (and ideas) versus the cliched, and the actors can't quite overcome the latter.

Cinematographer Oliver Stapelton, who did beautiful work in "The Cider House Rules," is a bit more pedestrian here, although he does capture multiple faces of Las Vegas, from the glitzy strip to the unfashionable homes of its working class to the majestic mountains seen outside Simonet's classroom windows. The chiming bells score is strongly reminiscent of "American Beauty," perhaps to recall Spacey's most recent Oscar win with Academy members. The use of Jane Siberry's "Calling All Angels" at the film's finale drives home with soppy symbolism the sentimentality so deftly avoided through most of the film's running time.

Mimi Leder is heading in the right direction with her third film, although more emotional restraint (and another ending!) would have served her better. "Pay It Forward," though, is sure to be a crowd pleaser.

B

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