Pay It Forward
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Movie Reviews of Pay It Forward
Movie Review: Open Your Heart...
Summary: 5 Stars
I do not review poor films. I do not review mediocre films. I refuse to. I leave that to Maltin and Ebert. I DO try to impress upon you when a great film comes to the fore. Pay It Forward is a Hollywood production (usually the Kiss Of Mediocrity), that took a step forward. As if you could lose casting Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt together, you now have Haley Joel Osment as the catalyst. The so altuistic idea of doing something nice for someone BEFORE you need to, has been around since the earliest Greek plays. The Greeks just never presented a script as perfect as this.
While the underlying story of Spacey(Osment's school teacher whom Osment arranges to fall in love with Hunt, Osment's mother) and Hunt (Osment's mother who is a recovering alcholic with a missing husband) have both been played before, there is a magic between the two. Both have their abusive demons controlling their lives (Spacey's character has a bit of a surprise). Each has such a loneliness unique to themselves, but shared. But it is all truly surpassed by the touching and powerful performance of Osment. Ever since The Ususal Suspects, I've known Spacey was good. And I have been in love with Hunt since Mad About You. But Osment is something special. This young man proved himself in 6th Sense. How do you follow that character? How do you avoid the sophmore jinx? You take the role of Trevor McKinney, an altruistic child who believes the world should be, and can be made better, by doing right by someone without their asking. Osment conveys emotion, as do Spacey and Hunt, but his performance surpasses theirs.
Most reviews ruin the movie by giving away the story. I won't do that. I think the word of mouth from those who have seen it will give most viewers an idea of the plot. It is the FEELING from these actors that left the screen and enveloped me. There was such a range of emotion, that I was completely drawn in. Jon Bon Jovi as the abusive husband is well cast (yes, he CAN act) and Angie Dickenson should have won the Academy Award for best supporting actress as Hunt's alchoholic mother.
I refuse to reveal the plot or story like most reviewers. It would sully the effect. You will watch this film, you will not get up to get a snack, and you will cry at the end. Men, I mean you too. You will watch the credits wondering if the Pay It Forward idea would really work. Do NOT pass on this movie if your wife or girlfriend suggests it. This is not a chick flick. This is quite simply an excellent flick.
Movie Review: Pay It Forward
Summary: 5 Stars
Most of the movies we see now a days are utter trash filled with violence, gore, sex with an occasional character who is out on some kind of search of discovery. So rarely do we see a movie that will tug at our heart strings and make us want to do something with humanity- "Pay it Forward" does just that. Thank God we lucked out and Hollywood gave us "Pay It Forward." After watching it I found myself questioning the person I had become and the person I wanted to be.
In this movie it starts out when a teacher(Spacey) gives an assignment to his students "How will you change the world," the best concept comes from Hayley Joel Osment who comes up with the "Pay it forward" method do 3 acts of kindness for people and then instead of them paying YOU back they do 3 acts of kindness for 3 other people thus, creating a continual circle of kindness. It's a brillant concept and believe or not the people he chooses to help actually continue the chain. Osment helps his mother and teacher find love, helps a hobo, and his friend who never sticks up for himself. Before Osment knows it "pay it forward" has gone across the nation and a reporter has been searching for him throughout the movie. Never had, I seen such a movie with such a clear purpose of trying to make the auidience look deep within themselves to see if they could do any good with the world. In the end of this movie young Osment has actually changed the world and the people around him.
While many movies come along and have a fan following... this movie actually has an actual following of people around the country doing random acts of kindess for strangers simply saying "Pay it Forward." This movie managed to make me do more than, think but actually take action.
This movie was a real tear-jerker and deserves accolades it wasn't given. Hunt was at her best in this film as the recovering alcholic and even better than her "As Good As It Gets" performance. Spacey does the best job he has done since "American Beauty" and Osment outshines his role in "The Sixth Sense." With an all star cast, a clear purpose, and a touching script this movie deserves the five stars I have given it!
Ultimately this is a movie the entire family and your children have to see! Rent or buy this one and pay it forward!
Movie Review: The dream is to make a difference... to change the world to a better place
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie starts with a seventh grade teacher played by Kevin Spacey challenging a group of social studies students to come up with a plan that helps change the world to a much better place. The words are challenging, inspiring... the students are surprised,
One student is not only inspired to try but he believes that it is possible, and comes up with a plan to do good deeds for three people, who, rather than return the favor, must pay it forward by helping another three individuals.
The seventh grade student Trevor McKinney, played by Haley Joel Osment is up to something. As the number of people helping each other multiplies... one helps three, these three, each help another three... now nine help three each... and so on... one day the Earth would be populated with people in search of solutions.
Trevor comes from a broken home, alcoholic parents, a homeless grandmother, and a mother who holds two jobs to survive. So, he is left alone for long periods of time to consider and delve into his project.
To start the project, he chooses a homeless junkie, played by James Caviezel, and takes him home to feed and put a roof over his head. Imagine the shock of his mother, brilliantly played by Helen Hunt, when she finds this homeless person living in her home.
So... she goes to school to confront the teacher who planted such a crazy idea in her child's mind and meets the teacher, who is a burn-victim. The encounter between these two is simply... magnificent.
She is a recovering alcoholic who attends AA meetings. He is a burn victim, bottled up inside a disfigured body, who refuses to take the necessary risks to plunge into living his own life... at an emotional level.
For his good deed project, Trevor decides that his next two selections will be... none other than his mother and his professor, and he sets them up to initiate a relationship.
The actors are so powerful that they turn this story into a magnificent agent of change classic, for we are left pondering if we too... should become a part of this movie and attempt to help those in need in search for a better world.
Movie Review: Beautiful in every way!
Summary: 5 Stars
Trevor (Osment) is a good kid living a hard life. He's constantly taking care of himself while his single mother (Helen Hunt, pitch perfect) works job after job and he's continually having to battle her with her alcohol problem, she hides bottles and he finds and drains them. This story of mother-son relationship is the heart of 'Pay it Forward', the actual paying it forward (a school project Trevor comes up with) is in many ways the sub-plot here, not the other way around. You see, Trevor is a bright young boy (about 11 or so) whose new teacher (Kevin Spacey, always brilliant) gives them a 'beginning of the year' assignment to come up with a way to change the world, for the better. He doesn't feel any of the kids will actually come up with anything substantial, but then again he's never had a student quite like Trevor. Trevor comes up with a plan, a utopian idea (now look that up :P) where one person will do something good for 3 people who in turn will do something good for 3 more people, never the same people, always someone different, and the idea, as rediculous as it may sound actually worked for word of it got out and reached a struggling news reporter (Jay Mohr) who decides to do a story on Trevor and his idea. Like I said, all of this is nothing more than a sub-plot. The heart and soul of this story is the bond that forms between these 3 unlikely souls. A mother whose always trying so hard to do the right thing but for the life of her can't make the right choices. A teacher who is afraid to change for fear of hurting anymore than he already does and a boy caught in the middle with a heart of gold. That is your story and what a touching and moving story it is. Helen Hunt is on top of her game in this beautiful story of learning to love, and Kevin Spacey, always brilliant, is convincing and heart breaking in his sicerity. Young Haley Joel Osment is a brilliant young actor and I'm sure, with the promise he showed in movies like this one, A.I. and his oscar nominated performance in the Sixth Sense, that he will come back guns blazing once he's through with the awkward stages of those teenage years! Great film that oscar ignored, but thats nothing new is it?Movie Review: Don't Forget to Pay It Forward
Summary: 5 Stars
WATCH THIS MOVIE! This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time...My cousin and I decided to challenge our boredom and watch a movie the other day. I left my house with high hopes of ridding myself of redundancy but never expected that one movie could change my whole perception of an all-too-corrupt world. The title of this brilliant artwork is Pay it Forward. Although it features a list of talented actors who without-a-doubt add to the movie's success, the poise of this movie lies in the plot. A quick summary would never be enough to pay tribute to the movie's excellence, but carries out the message nonetheless.
A local social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, seems to have his life in perfect order. This perfection, his facade, is put to the test when he assigns his class a project: to think of one way to better our world. One of his students, Trevor, takes the assignment seriously and comes up with a beautifully sorted utopian idea. He presents his idea to the class and the teacher is impressed but not convinced of it's effectiveness. Pay it Forward is easy to understand. When someone does something for you that you could not achieve yourself, you must do something good for three other people. Then it's their turn to "pay it forward."
I think the message in this movie was beyond motivational. What I love most about this movie is that Trevor's idea is possible to achieve. This practice could start off as a mere chain but can eventually turn into an unconscious good-for-all event. People might even start doing good deeds because it comes from the heart, rather than to complete "their part of the deal" like the original concept of Pay it Forward implies. Overall, the movie is realistic and the concept is admirable. We can only hope that this movie's script will be acted out in our everyday lives.