Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) is a seventh grader who observes that his world around him is tumbling over. His mom (Helen Hunt) is an alcoholic, his dad (Bon Jovi) is violent, his grandmother lives in a car and has bitter relationship with his mom, his friend is bullied regularly, and many people are desperate.
One day, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), his social studies teacher, gives an assignment to the class. He asks the students to do something to change the world and make it a better place. Trevor is really excited with this new assignment and comes up with an idea. He wants to do something big or important for three people who really need it. These three people, then, should do the same thing to other three and the chain continues. The ideal result is that the world will be populated with people who are willing to do good deeds.
From that point onwards, Trevor starts his quest to try to touch people’s heart and do good things, including his teacher and his mom. In reality, what he plans to achieve is not that simple. When he thinks that people have changed and started new lives, those people do the same bad things again. Trevor is really desperate and in the point of giving up, but he keeps his commitment to spread his good will to the world.
There is no problem from the acting of the three main actors, Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment. They all pull out strong performances. Bon Jovi appears briefly, but he annoys me. His appearance is not at the right time in the movie and as a result it disrupts the flow of the movie. In addition, his performance is under par as compared to others.
The concept of the movie has much potential, but its delivery is kind of disappointing. The story line is sketchy, forced, and does not flow smoothly from one scene to another. For instance is the relationship development between Eugene and Trevor’s mom, which seems awkward and unrealistic at best. I expect that the movie will be strong and touching, especially with the support of great casts. However, although there are some touching moments, the movie fails to move me. Perhaps there are too many tragedies and depressing situations so instead of intensify the emotional moments, they make the movie seems repetitive and boring.
You can find more information on the movie from these links:
- IMDB: Pay It Forward
- Pay It Forward official movie site
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