I watched the major part of this film with my friends, who put it on almost exclusively to make me cry (obviously I have cruel friends). They chose it as it was supposed to be a typically sad movie, and it was just that. There were a few major things which ruined it for me – although, yes, I cried like a baby at the end, thankfully in the safety of my bedroom the next morning as I had to leave before the end.
The plot is so clichéd it’s slightly sickening. It follows the story of a young boy called Trevor, who, inspired by his Social Studies teacher, works out a plan to change the world. All that has to be done is to change three people’s lives in some way, by doing something for them that they can’t do themselves. Those people are not allowed to pay the original person back, but must “pay it forward” to three other people – the idea being that it will continue to spread, and make the world a better place.
Focussing on the good parts of the film first: the actors who played Trevor (Haley Joel Osmont from The Sixth Sense) and Mr Simonet, the teacher (Kevin Spacey) were great. Each of them immersed themselves in the part, and were totally believable. The subplot of Mr Simonet’s life was beautifully played out, and Spacey almost brought tears to my eyes in an emotional scene where he tells the story of his appearance – his face, neck and chest are covered with terrible scars. Note: I would have been a characteristic sobbing wreck at this point had it not been for the other shortcomings of the film.
However, most other things either detracted from the film, or were just plain wrong. While Trevor’s mother played her part extremely well, I just didn’t find the actress (Helen Hunt) convincing enough. The character was all there, and she played it correctly, but I just couldn’t see it – something didn’t fit and overall I was dissatisfied with it. I can’t tell if it is because she has such defining features so I always think of her as the actress or a previous character, or because she simply didn’t look the part of a single mother working in a stripper bar.
I also spent a lot of the time, to my friends’ annoyance, complaining about the soundtrack. I may be alone in this opinion, but I strongly believe that a good soundtrack makes a film, and without the proper music, even the best made film will flop. The score, quite honestly, sucked and was totally boring. If they’d brought in some emotional music at the aforementioned scar scene then I would have flooded the room, but it was so simple and conveyed no emotion at all. I believe this is the main problem of the film.
Something else I disliked was that the character of the journalist was never expanded upon. This is the first character we meet, who is a “victim” of “pay it forward” and decides to investigate. As he does so the story unravels. He is clearly an integral part of the storytelling, being in the same position as the audience, and yet we can never really empathise with him because we never find out what he’s like.
Finally, I must discuss the ending. It was a huge surprise, and I suppose rather a good one, since I love plot twists at the ending. Looking back on it, it is so cheesy and clichéd, and the very final scene is so obviously created to be a classic tear-jerker (which totally worked on me). However, it wasn’t so disgusting that it was unjoyable.
All in all, it was a rather sweet and sad film. I would recommend seeing it, but don’t expect too much from it.
I absolutley bawled my eyes out when I watched this!