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It doesn't 'Pay' offSpacey-Hunt movie a familiar tale full of gooey gimmicks
(CNNSB) -- I have a good idea. Let's take two universally respected Academy Award winners and one well-loved nominee and put them in a manipulative, gimmicky film about how one person can change the world. They can each play a variation of the same characters that made them famous, and we'll even throw in a disjointed time line, familiar musical scores and offensive racial stereotypes. Oops, apparently my proposal has come too late because "Pay It Forward" already stole my idea. Back to the drawing board.
"Pay It Forward" explores the following premise: Do something nice for three people and instruct each of them to do the same, and in time, the "pay it forward" mantra will spread far and wide until the world is a better place. Of course, to execute this premise, the screenwriters thought it necessary to say the phrase "pay it forward" in every other scene. Why do I mention that? Because the relentless utterance of "pay it forward" throughout the film reveals a deeper problem -- this movie chokes on itself by being too pretentiously self-aware. It knows that it has a sweet idea, and then it squeezes every drop of syrup out of it until it is dry and tasteless. "Paying it forward" is conjured by 11-year-old Trevor (Haley Joel Osment), who comes up with the idea because of an extra credit assignment given by his social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet (Kevin Spacey). Trevor is intelligent, ambitious, perceptive, creative, moral and a little misunderstood. He has a single mom who's not as smart as he is, and their house is tiny and messy. Wait, is this "The Sixth Sense"? It gets worse. The single mom, Arlene (Helen Hunt), is a struggling cocktail server who has been mistreated by men and falls in love with someone who might not be so handsome on the outside but pays attention to her in a way no one else has before. Is this "As Good as It Gets"? Not done yet. That not-so-handsome man is Mr. Simonet, whose burns and scars have kept him blocked out from real life for years. He follows a mundane routine in a middle-class world until a new sexual attraction to a blond woman makes him come out of his shell and gain a new lease on life. Is this "American Beauty"? In fact, Spacey isn't the only element stolen from "American Beauty" -- the music sounds the same, too.
Yes, Osment, Hunt and Spacey all parade around in this movie in more or less the same costumes they've donned in their other famous roles. They do it well, but they've already done it. While the family drama unfolds, and Trevor tries to make the inevitable love connection between his mom and teacher, a reporter named Chris (Jay Mohr) wants the scoop. He has been touched by "paying it forward" and traces it back to its start. Good thing the concept reached an ambitious reporter, or Trevor might never have known how nifty he is. How does Mohr's story line jive with the rest of the film, which is supposed to have happened four months earlier? It doesn't. In fact, the jumping back and forth through time is so odd that when Mohr and Osment came face-to-face, I spent the next three minutes trying to figure out how Osment's story line caught up with Mohr's. And I don't want to launch into a sociological doctorate, but this film could have tried a little harder to be less white-centered. The Latino gang kids and the jailed African-American looter are used merely as easy stereotypes, void of depth or effort. Though I've poked at how Osment, Spacey and Hunt are not breaking any new ground, I can't deny that they are three of my favorite actors today. Their performances are solid, and the audience I was with got the sniffles a few times. And I did, too. The "Pay It Forward" premise is an inarguably sweet notion. In a more subtle and thoughtful movie, the notion could have been inspiring. As it is, the idea will go down in film history as a gimmick trapped in a sappy production. RELATED STORIES: Kevin Spacey plays it different in 'Pay It Forward' RELATED SITE: 'Pay It Forward' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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