Pay It Forward Review
by Chad Polenz (ChadPolenz AT aol DOT com)October 23rd, 2000
Pay It Forward
The concept of "Pay It Forward" is a simple plan developed by a 12-year-old boy to change the world. You'd think that would be more than enough plot for a major motion picture to work with wouldn't you? Imagine the possibilities of a movie showing how performing random acts of kindness could better the world - in the right hands it could be pretty powerful. Unfortunately this story was trusted with the wrong people who opt to make a sappy tearjerker instead of a poignant message.
This movie wins the First Annual "'American Beauty' Award for How Many Over-the-top plot points, characteristics and trite scenes you can Put in One Movie And Still Try to Market It As a Thematic Drama."
Okay, that was kind of a mouthful, but I'll elaborate. "Pay It Forward" is about a young boy named Trevor McKinney living in a trailer park in the hills overlooking Las Vegas with his recovering alcoholic mother Arlene. Trevor is an over-achiever who takes everything literally and is easily discouraged when he fails or when things go wrong. He attends a blue-collar middle school somewhere in the outskirts of the city where even 7th graders are subject to metal detectors at the doors because some are as violent as adult gang members.
One of the main influences in Trevor's life is Mr. Eugene Simonet, a slightly arrogant social studies teacher whose face is disfigured by burns. Simonet gives his class an assignment to think of an idea that could change the world. He does actually expect them to do it, he just wants to see them put in the effort. Trevor comes up with the idea of "pay it forward" in which he must help three people out in pretty big ways (something they couldn't have done without his help) and in turn they must pay the favor forward to three other people instead of just doing something nice for him.
"Pay it forward" is a great idea and one that could easily be put into practice in the real world if people were willing to give it a chance and swallow their pride. Why do we as humans think of personally helping the less fortunate as a humbling and embarrassing duty? It's one thing to write a check to charity, it's a much different thing to volunteer your time and actually perform labor in the name of kindness and goodwill. But this Hollywood we're talking about, the only way the filmmakers think they could turn this idea into a good movie is by going the melodramatic route. They'd rather appeal to our emotions instead of taking the idea seriously and making us think.
It doesn't work.
Trevor starts out by bringing a bum home and allowing him to sleep in the garage until his mother finds out and nearly blows the bum's head off. She then proceeds to rip Mr. Simonet a new one when she finds out where Trevor got the idea. When you have a man and a woman who both have severe personal problems and meet in an awkward setting and immediately disagree it's clear they're going to fall head over heals for each other. I don't think that's too much a spoiler because this movie is just that predictable and sappy.
When we meet Arlene she's an unlikable character not only because of her personal demons with alcohol but she's just a bad mother. She's trying to protect Trevor from the cruelty of the real world but she's in total denial. She works as a part-time burlesque waitress and a part-time casino clerk always staying late and coming in early to work if she can get the time. We're told she's been known to just jump into bed with men and that she spent years with an abusive alcoholic husband. She can't understand why Trevor doesn't respect her much less like her (gee, I wonder why?). There's a scenes where the two argue and Arlene slaps Trevor and then feels guilty and shocked she did it. I can't believe the filmmakers try to pull this one over us. An alcoholic floozy mother who DOESN'T beat her kid is a lot more surprising to me.
The story is slowly-paced and the screenplay jumps all over the place between Trevor's relationship with his mother and her relationship with Mr. Simonet. At the same time there's a sub-plot involving a Los Angeles-based reporter who catches wind of "pay it forward" and tracks its roots all the way back to Trevor. There's a scene where the reporter interviews a convict who says the idea gave him all this clarity like a religious awakening. Uh huh. Anyone can just SAY they're a changed person, the film fails to fully detail this. The man let a girl go ahead of him in the emergency room but you still never believe he's about to become the next Mother Theresa of the ghetto as he claims he would be.
After the halfway point of the film the "pay it forward" concept is essentially gone and instead the film is a laboring melodrama of conflicts between the characters, most of which are blown out of proportion. Eugene and Arlene start dating but don't have much chemistry. I guess we're supposed to simply assume that they're lonely and are together because they sympathize with each other, not so because they genuinely like each other. A few more conflicts arise such as when Trevor tries to run away from home and when his father returns after a long asbsence, claims he's sober, and Eugene flips out.
There have been quite a few dramas about alcoholism in families and how it's cyclical and genetic. "Pay It Forward" uses that concept for its drama but takes it rather lightly. There's a few scenes of screaming and yelling between the characters about how screwed up their lives are but after they're done nothing has really changed.
This film was directed by Mimi Leder who also directed "Deep Impact," one of the most unapologetic tearjerkers of our time. I didn't think the level of pandering and sappiness in that movie could ever be topped but I underestimated Leder. Maybe it's not her fault for how ridiculously over-the-top the ending to this movie is, but I'd like to think one of the producers might have suggested a better way to end it. For all its philosophies and ideas about goodness and kindness in the world "Pay It Forward" can't come up with a single positive and realistic illustration of its themes and instead cops out by trying to send you home weeping.
I don't think "Pay It Forward" is going to be a hit. I think people are going to see right through it. I hate to stomp on a movie but at the end of this one so many people in the cinema were making that "tsk" sound it was like being in the cricket house at the zoo.
GRADE: C+
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