Posted: 11/06/2000

Pay It Forward

(2000)

by D. Patrick Seitz

Is this film a morality play, a warm-fuzzy, or a well-choreographed emotion-stealer?

In a perfect world, I’d start cranking out my review for any given movie just moments after returning home from seeing it. I’d will myself to sit down and chronicle my impressions while they’re fresh in my mind. Unfortunately, the world’s not perfect. Nice guys finish last, Bush will win the election, and I’m a procrastinator. Thus, I’ve had plenty of time to think about Pay It Forward before writing this review—and it’s gonna be less positive for it.

The premise is this: Social studies teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey) gives his seventh-graders an assignment to try and change the world for the better. From the rabble of lukewarm ideas that ensue, one stands out—that of Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment). His idea is simple, in theory—to do good deeds of significant import for three people, each of whom will then do the same for three more people, and on and on ad infinitum.

One wonders what sort of Herculean tasks are demanded of Trevor by his other teachers, but that’s neither here nor there. The important thing is that Trevor puts his theory into practice. Somewhere along the line, he gets it into his head that by hooking up his mom with Mr. Simonet, he could kill two birds with one stone.

Does Trevor change the world? Do his mom and his social studies teacher hook up? And do you know any seventh-graders for whom such a love connection wouldn’t be a social apocalypse? I ain’t telling.

Pay It Forward almost made me cry, but a few deep breaths during the credits set me right as rain again. There’s a difference between me crying at a movie and a movie making me cry. The former is a cathartic experience (albeit rare, ladies; I’m machismo personified—really), while the latter smacks of slick manipulation.

It’s unfortunate that Pay It Forward went the manipulation route, but it’s not much of a surprise. What’ll elicit tears in one person will leave another person unmoved. Thus, they had to turn the emoto-meter high enough to give everybody a case of the sniffles. The result? One man’s emotionally sincere moment is another man’s Gouda.

Pay It Forward was cast very well, so it’s not from any lack of talent that the film flounders.

Kevin Spacey put forth his standard excellent performance, as did Helen Hunt. Apparently, some movie-goers have been a bit unnerved by her portrayal of a very un-Mad About You character, but I took her departure from the perennially cheerful as a welcome change of pace.

Haley Joel Osment did a fine job. I look forward to decades of good work from him, and fervently hope that he doesn’t shoot his career out from under himself by making bad decisions during his teenage years (e.g. Brad Renfro, whose drug and yacht-swiping antics are getting less pardonable by the minute). However, Osment was painted into something of a corner by his character in Pay It Forward. The film tried to portray his character as both a pint-sized bodhisttava and your run-of-the-mill seventh-grader. One scene, late in the film, of Trevor enjoying pro wrestling does not an average youngster make.

James Caviezel is fine as Jerry, the junkie bum upon whom Trevor first tests his theory of paying it forward (and I can’t wait for his work in The Count of Monte Cristo). Jay Mohr hits the nail right on the head as Chris Chandler, the cynical freelance reporter who can’t take the “pay it forward” movement at face value, even though his receiving a car from a total stranger was what tuned him into it in the first place.

One of my two big problems with Pay It Forward is the inevitable relationship between Arlene and Eugene. What do they have in common, aside from rhyming first names? Not too much, as a matter of fact. She’s a street-smart alcoholic, working two unenviable jobs to get by, while he’s something of an elitist whose attitude and articulate manner of speaking are as intimidating as his burned face. They’re both damaged people, in need of love and redemption. I can buy that something like that might bring people together; after all, folks have hooked up over for far less. But they’re in Las Vegas. If an equitable degree of messed-upedness is the only qualifier, both Arlene and Eugene should have been faced with an inexhaustible dating pool from the word go—and never stumbled across each other.

My other big problem with Pay It Forward? I can’t mention it. At the same time, I felt I’d be remiss in my duty as a reviewer if I didn’t at least acknowledge its existence. If you’ve seen the film, you know what I’m talking about. If not, you’ll know it when you see it. Trust me.

Pay It Forward was an enjoyable enough movie, but as time passed, I couldn’t help the suspicion that every emotion I felt during the run of the film had been carefully choreographed by Hollywood pros. Maybe my suspicions are nothing more than the regeneration of my own cynicism, a shell that the movie was able to crack open, albeit for a few brief hours. If that’s the case, please let me know.

D. Patrick Seitz is an actor and writer in Los Angeles.

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