Pay It Forward
**
Rated on a 4-star scale
Screening venue: Odeon (Liverpool City Centre)
Released in the UK by Warner Bros on January 26, 2001; certificate 12; 123
minutes; country of origin USA; aspect ratio 1.85:1
Directed by Mimi Leder; produced by Robert
Abrams, Robert L. Levy, Steven Reuther.
Written by Leslie Dixon; based on the book by Catherine Ryan
Hyde.
Photographed by Oliver Stapleton; edited by David
Rosenbloom.
CAST.....
Haley Joel Osment..... Trevor McKinney
Kevin Spacey..... Eugene Simonet
Helen Hunt..... Arlene McKinney
Jay Mohr..... Chris Chandler
David Ramsey..... Sidney
"Pay It Forward" is not a movie
without a brain in its head -- it's just that the brain falls out. The film
starts with an amazing premise, seems to be following it through with good
drama, then lapses into horrific saccharine naivety and ends with some of
the stupidest symbolism I've ever seen at the movies.
Haley Joel Osment, the Oscar-nominated kid from
"The Sixth Sense", stars as Trevor McKinney, a bright young kid whose mother
(Helen Hunt) has a drinking problem and whose father (Jon Bon Jovi) appears
in his life only by way of infrequent catastrophic visits. Trevor's life
turns around when he starts junior high school, where the Social Studies
class is taught by Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), a smart guy noticeable
for his massive facial burns who gives his class a year-long assignment:
Think of an idea that could change the world.
This, of course, is to get the kids thinking,
maybe get them to be a bit more careful in the way they approach things --
but Trevor comes up with something he thinks could really make a difference,
a scheme called 'Pay It Forward', whereby he will do three big favours for
three people, who instead of paying the favour back will in turn do great
deeds for three more people, and so on and so forth, until a chain of great
benevolence spreads throughout humanity.
This is a wonderful, though-provoking set-up,
and the majority of "Pay It Forward" unfolds with involving dramatisation
of what could happen if someone tried to carry something like this out. Trevor
tries to get a homeless heroin addict back on his feet, to get his mother
to stop drinking, and to set Mr. Simonet up with his mother… and we
witness a balance between the hope and healing generated by Trevor's virtuous
conscientiousness and the sad roadblocks of indecision, selfishness and human
error that inevitably arise when attempting to solve problems. Dilemmas would
not exist if they could be cured in the blink of an eye.
Could a scheme like 'Pay It Forward' work? As
the realistic mid-section of the movie demonstrated, the answer has got to
be no -- as in pyramid schemes, most people would not carry out their part,
and aside from that, not all the favours would necessarily solve the problems.
The best way to change the world is by changing what's in yourself, and then
maybe -- just maybe -- you can inspire others to do the same.
But the last act of the film refuses to go with
this common sense -- instead we get miraculous turnarounds in human nature
resolving everything, and 'Pay It Forward' spreading into a mass movement
that heals the ills of the world. There's also a sickeningly calculating
climactic development that nominating Trevor as a Christlike saviour of mankind.
I would have screamed at the screen to give me a break, but I doubt the movie
would have heard me, and even if it had done, it would have probably asked
me to pay the break forward.
"Pay it Forward" was directed by Mimi Leder, the
idiotic filmmaker responsible for "Deep Impact", a big-budget action flick
in which a comet hit the Earth and yet millions managed to survive, after
stunningly illogical developments including anti-comet bunkers and an injured
boy and girl outrunning a tidal wave that was supposed to be going at the
speed of sound. I remember her giving television interviews about that movie
where she talked about the depth of its characters, how it wasn't a standard
special effects extravaganza, yada yada yada, and now I'm sure she thinks
she's given the world a monumentally important parable rather than a shamelessly
shoddy sap-fest. If ever you see her name on a movie poster, consider it
as promising as the air attack warning.
COPYRIGHT©
2001 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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