Pay It Forward
(Rated PG-13)

By Amy Diaz
HippoPress.com

Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment want to do good in Pay It Forward, a movie that really, really wants you to like it.

All the characters in Pay It Forward labor under a variety of handicaps: a disfigured face, a drinking problem, an abusive childhood, a bad dye job, etc. Trevor's (Osment) central problem is that, in addition to having an alcoholic mom (Helen Hunt) with a blind spot towards her abusive boyfriend (Jon Bon Jovi), he is now forced to slog through the hell that is middle school.

On his first day of 7th grade social studies, Trevor is inspired by his teacher Eugene Simonet (Spacey) to change the world. Simonet, disfigured by burn scars, knows something about the crappy nature of the world and is surprised when Trevor follows through on a plan to do three good deeds for three other people. The idea behind the plan is that those three people then pay the good deeds forward - doing three good deeds for three people who will then do three good deeds...Sort of a pyramid scheme of philanthropy.

After attempting to get a homeless man on the straight and narrow, Trevor turns his attentions to getting Simonet hooked up with Arlene, Trevor's mom, whose problems are alcoholism, bad childhood, scary bleached hair and Tammy Faye-like eyes.

While the Trevor story plays out, a Los Angeles reporter (Jay Mohr) tries to track the pay it forward movement after a stranger gives him a car. As he follows the story to Trevor's hometown of Las Vegas, the reporter interviews the people who have been saved by unexpected kindness.

Pay It Forward is very Oprah-esque in its world view - victimization in a variety of forms intermingles with the occasional good deed. The characters walk around like people in varying states of psychotherapy. Spacey is the most "in touch" guy but that doesn't mean he can't become more "in touch" as the movie proceeds.

The story of Trevor's family is about as depressing as they come. While setting up an emotional rags to spiritual riches foundation for the plot, the result of all these societal ills is a very movie-of-the-week melodrama. The reporter's search for the beginnings of pay-it-forward offers an interesting storytelling opportunity that the movie doesn't fully use and cuts short too quickly. All this good will fails to come across as genuine and provoked me to Al Gore-style eye rolling and heavy sighing.

Despite the overall awfulness of Pay It Forward, Spacey sticks out as the movie's one redeeming element. While even the greatness of Spacey can't save this Hallmarky mess, he gives his character some humanity beyond his designated problems. Spacey gives the audience something worth watching even if they've already given up on the movie.

Though Kevin Spacey turns in his standard heavenly performance, Pay It Forward-like all good intentions-paves the road to movie purgatory.

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