ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Paul J. Nemecek Last week I reviewed a film called The Contender. The title would have been even more appropriate for this week's film Pay It Forward. In the 1954 Oscar-winning film On the Waterfront Marlon Brando has a great speech in which he says, "I could've been a contender, instead of a bum, which is what I am." I left Pay It Forward thinking a great deal about what it could have been.The premise is engaging. Kevin Spacey plays a middle-school teacher who challenges his students to come up with a strategy for changing the world. One of his students, Trevor, comes up with the interesting idea that is the heart of the film. He says that we worry about paying people back when they do us a favor--maybe we should pay it forward. He decides that he will do something for three different people, instructing them each to do something positive for three other people instead of paying him back. If this exponential altruism catches on it might just change the world.One of Trevor's not-so-random acts of kindness is to get his mother together with his teacher. Trevor is an only child living with an overworked alcoholic mother. His teacher is a single man with a badly scarred face. He knows that they would be good for each other and does everything he can to get them together.There are, of course, complications. The primary weakness of the film is best described by quoting Richard Foster. Foster tells of a publisher who responded to a manuscript by saying "this is original and creative . . . unfortunately the parts that are original are not creative, and the parts that are creative are not original." Once we get past the engaging premise the film becomes a virtual compendium of cliches. We move back and forth between the chain of altruism and the budding romance but both plot lines are chock full of melodramatic machinations.The sad thing is that with a little better writing this could have been an excellent film. The performances are outstanding. Kevin Spacey is excellent as always, Helen Hunt gives one of the best performances of her career, and Haley Joel Osment proves that he is, pound for pound, one of the best actors working.I liked the film overall, but I really wanted to like it more than I did. In this season where we are drowning in the politics of self-interest, anything that encourages civility and compassion is a refreshing change. My expectations were so high that I left a bit disappointed. I am hoping that if I lower your expectations you might see it and like it more than you thought you would. It would please me greatly to do you that small favor. If it does work out that way, no need to thank me or pay me back, just pay it forward.

Sebb Pay it forward is not really a good movie. The characters are unlikeable, the story is really clunky and some of the dialogue is awful. However, there are some inspiring and good scenes in this movie. And the meaning the movie is trying to show is great on paper, but is not really explored well in the movie. The love story in this movie feels very out of place and boring. If the movie had focused all the way on the pay it forward thing, it would have worked much better. 4/10

Mr-Fusion It's been a long time since I'd seen "Pay It Forward" and the only thing I really remembered about it was the ending; which explains why I don't like this movie.To its credit, the performances are good, which takes the edge off of such a ham-fisted script. I couldn't believe some of the dialogue, and after a while, you just want to punch these condescending characters right in the mouth. This movie's all about the syrupy message, but it doesn't go about it with rounded characters and decent writing; it works the heart strings, and when there's no subtlety in that, it's just concentrated Oscar bait. Even a major death scene is played for maximum melodrama. I don't want to give away spoilers, but as a character is stabbed, he/she falls to the ground while staring up in shock at the heavens. There's just nothing natural about this."Pay It Forward" makes me think of "Crash" for those very reasons. And even though this isn't as bad, it reeks of shrewd manipulation. Honestly, it'd just be harmless tripe, were it not for that ending. But as it stands, "Field of Dreams" is owed an apology.3/10

denireguerrero The term pay it forward means when someone helps you out in a situation be thankful for it and you should help out another person. Like passing on the act of kindness. In the this heartfelt movie I learned how life can be taken away from anyone at any minute. Trevor who is the little boy in the movie is assigned a project by his teacher which is to change the world. He decided to help a homeless man and his mother didn't approve because the man was a stranger. Later in the movie Trevor pays it forward by helps a boy at school that is being bullied by a group of kids his age. The group of boys kick and punch the boy on the ground. Trevor helps the boy by running into the group of boys with his bike. A fight starts between him and one of the boys then one of them pulls out a knife and stabs him. Trevor dies after being stabbed. Before Trevor died he helped many people in need. As a young actor his role in this movie was very inspiring and changed the way I look at life. This is definitely a movie that will make any person with a good heart cry.