Pay It Forward Review by Tim Wick
Remember the old commercial for shampoo? You tell two friends and they tell
two friends and so on and so on and so on....?
If you don't it's probably better for you. To tell the truth, I'm not 100%
confident they were trying to sell shampoo. I was just using the commercial
to illustrate the central premise of Pay it Forward. If you don't know
already (having somehow avoided every ad that has been produced for this
film), then perhaps you should stop reading so you can enjoy the film
unfettered by previous knowledge of what Pay it Forward means.
For the rest of you, I'm not writing a spoiler here. The movie is borrowing
from a shampoo commercial and a little bit of the Amway plan as it asks us
to
believe that one 11 year old boy can change the world by teaching people to
be nice to each other.
It's a great thought and I was pulling for it. I mean, I admired Rodney
King for tearfully asking if we couldn't just "all get along". I watch the
unrest in the Middle East wondering why so many seemingly reasonable people
are incapable of settling an argument they didn't even start without
shooting
at each other. What if we all just did something nice for someone else with
the only price being that they have to do something nice for someone in
return? Turn off your reality check for a minute and enjoy the
possibilities.
The other reason I was pulling for this movie was the stars. Between the
three leads we had four Oscar Nominations and three wins. I mean, you put a
Pauly Shore film out there that co-stars Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osmont and
Kevin Spacey and I'm there. I'd probably wait for a second run on that
movie.
But the point is you have a touching premise and a great cast and you have a
movie with a ton of potential.
And it lives up to most of it's potential. I'd like to say all, but there
are just a few things that prevented this film from reaching greatness for
me.
Now I am moving into MAJOR SPOILER territorry here. I'm going to give a
little space for those of you who don't want to know major plot elements.
If
you don't want to read further 'til you've seen the film, I don't blame you.
Basic gist - the film is pretty good but not great. Check back after you've
seen the film.
.
.
.
.
.
.
SPOILER COMING
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The biggest problem with this film was, in my opinion, the ending. It
didn't
fit the film and there was no particular reason for it to have happened.
The
closing scene was very emotional - I don't deny that I misted up - but it
wasn't really "right". Rather than making the film stronger, it was
weakened.
A death, while emotional, has a numbing effect when it does not drive the
film forward. A needless death in the last five minutes of the film just so
one can create an overly emotional Field of Dreams like finale is simply
annnoying.
In a file where I really enjoyed the acting of the three leads, I was let
down by the script. The entire film focused on the central characters when
there was a host of periphery characters who were no less interesting and
who
easily could have been given three or four more minutes of screen time.
In particular, I'm thinking of a heroin addict named Jerrry who is the first
person Haley's character Trevor tries to help. Jerry tries to get himself
straight, but he falls off the wagon. We assume that is it for him, but
later we see him talk a woman out of jumping off a bridge. We never see him
or the woman again. I wanted to see a little about where their story went
and was disappointed when I was not allowed that glimpse.
Of course, the movie is really trying to focus on how Trevor's idea can work
on a grand and a small scale. On the one hand, we see a reporter who become
the benefactor of Trevor's idea despite living in a different state. On the
other hand, we watch as he tries to use his idea to help his mother (Helen
Hunt) and the teacher who gave him the inspiration in the first place (Kevin
Spacey).
I think the movie got so bogged down in focusing on the little picture (the
relationship between Hunt and Spacey) that it loses the fascinating big
picture (the slow spread of Trevor's idea across the country). As a result,
neither story works as well as it could.
Still, this movie is an entertaining dose of sweetness in a world that can
use all the sweetness it can get. Without the ending, I would have no
problem giving this film four beakers. The ending bumps it down to a three
and a half.
|
