FilmBlather.com

"#1 It has to be something that really helps people. #2 Something they can't do by themselves. #3 I do it for them, they do it for three other people."

Like Mission to Mars earlier this year, Pay It Forward is being attacked in some circles because we have become just too damn cynical. This remarkable little movie dares to assume that humanity isn't evil, selfish or ugly and, in a time when Fight Club and American Psycho are all the rage among the critical establishment, it's going to take some flack for it. It should be seen anyway.

The film begins with a reporter (Jay Mohr) getting his car totaled while trying to cover a hostage story. A mysterious man comes along and, to the reporter's utter astonishment, gives him his brand new Jaguar. When the reporter asks him what the hell he thinks he is doing, the man says only that he'll be in touch.

Cut to Three Months Earlier. We're introduced to Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment), an intelligent, relatively normal 11-year-old. His mom Arlene (Helen Hunt) is an alcoholic who works two jobs (one as a waitress in a strip bar; the other in a casino) just to make ends meet. They live in a terrible neighborhood on the outskirts of Las Vegas. On the first day of 7th grade, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey) gives Trevor's social studies class a long term assignment. Figure out a way to change the world and put it into action. "So you'll, like, flunk us if we don't change the world?" Trevor sensibly asks. "No," Mr. Simonet answers, "but you might just squeak by with a C."

Most of Trevor's classmates come up with the traditional gimmicks. "I put up recycling posters in two stores!" "I made a webpage in Chinese that tells people to jump up and down at the same time!" But Trevor, a kid with real problems, has something more profound in mind. After throwing away yet another bottle of vodka that his mother likes to hide around the house, Trevor invents something called "pay it forward." The concept is simple. He will do big favors for three people. Instead of paying the favor back, they will pay it forward by doing favors for three more people and so on.

Mr. Simonet isn't a very happy fellow himself. His face is scarred by mysterious burns and he doesn't seem to have a life outside his job. Trevor figures he'll do both him and his mom a favor by playing matchmaker and setting up a romance between the two. He hopes that if they fall in love and Mr. Simonet is there when Trevor's abusive, biological father (Jon Bon Jovi) comes back, his mom won't be suckered into taking him in again.

Pay It Forward is a barrage of conflicting emotions. It is a decidedly life-affirming and hopeful film after all is said and done; on the other hand it is sad and somber through most of its running time. There are comic moments, but they too have poignant undertones. The movie ends with the death of one character, giving the film an extra dimension and adding to the film's overall morbid tone.

If awards come from this, as well they should, it'll probably be for the acting. Helen Hunt is almost guaranteed a Best Actress nomination for her strong, confident performance and when she is nominated, she will be hard to beat. Haley Joel Osment is less of a certainty simply because the 12 year-old got one last year but he is even more extraordinary than he was in The Sixth Sense. He might just be that rare child star to transcend the curse of being a child star. Kevin Spacey is solid (was there ever any doubt?) but his performance here is less showy than in American Beauty and The Big Kahuna because he is stripped of his usual cool, sarcastic exterior.

Pay It Forward is a rich experience, smart, courageous and bracingly powerful. Its message is unabashedly positive but it's not cuddly or cloying. I've heard parts of the film, as well as the film as a whole, called "implausible" and even "absurd". They need to watch the film again and realize by how much they have missed the point.