PAY IT FORWARD

REVIEWED BY DALLAS SHIPP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: sensuality, language, thematic elements

Rated:

Every film can have a single word that describes it. I am afraid that Pay it Forward's is "disappointment." An all star cast and a terrific premise to the story gives you great expectations for the film but when it is all said and done the movie would have been better unmade. The film is like a candle in a pitch dark gymnasium. The candle isn't the film; the entire room is. The story is about the golden rule and helping other people, but it is set in the darkness of humanity. Character portrayal and casting was top notch. With the Oscar nominated Actor Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense), Best Actor Kevin Spacey, and the Best Supporting Actress winner Helen Hunt, you would think this film would be an award sweeper all the way around, but what you get is just a big dark cloud. The cast is wasted in a poor story that groans at you throughout its overbearing two hour runtime.

Set in the lowlife of Las Vegas, Haley Joel Osment is Trevor McKinney, a loner on his first day of 6th grade. His Mom (Helen Hunt), a recovering alcoholic, is a waitress at a "gentleman's" club, and is never home. His Dad is a junkie who is abusive to his mother, and is always on the road. His new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey) is a stern faced victim of horrible burns all over his body. When Mr. Simonet challenges him to change the world, Trevor makes up the "Pay it Forward" idea. You help three people in a big way, and ask them each to do the same for another three people. The idea is that, eventually, everyone is helping each other, and "doing for them as you would have them do to you."

Instead of getting better, the film only goes deeper and darker into pits of despair. You add in the right amount of language, seduction, adultery, violence, and a final dose of murder, and that is what Pay it Forward turns out to be. The amount of offensive garbage thrown in to the pot kills out whatever good could have been done with the golden rule. The film becomes a shameful wreck that should not be seen.

The rating comes from sex, violence, substance abuse and language. There is a single bed scene with some kissing, but no nudity save a bare back. Mrs. McKinney has a reputation for seducing men, and works at a very voyeuristic club. She repeatedly asks a man why he won't sleep with her. Many women are seen in skimpy outfits that dance seductively. The language in this film is high, with many anatomical and scatological references, as well as religious profanities. A boy tells his mother he hates her. Violence in the film is high as well. Physical abuse is mentioned several times, and Mr. Simonet tells Mrs. McKinney a rather gruesome story about how he got his burn scars. Some boys at school repeatedly bully a smaller kid. In a fight a person is stabbed and blood streams from the wound. A man talks strangely to Trevor, and then rubs his hand over Trevor's face. Drug and alcohol abuse are two large factors in the film. We see scars on a man's arm from drug needles, and see a room full of drug junkies.

Pay it Forward was full of promise, but turns out not worthy of viewing. I was anticipating this film myself, but I turned out to be terribly disappointed. It is a real shame it had to turn out this way. The film tries too hard to make itself work, and writhes in its own work. The only real way it could have succeeded in its message was with Jesus. I wouldn't recommend it to any audience.

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