Brent Hopkins Hopkins makes lemons seem
sweet. E-mail him your thoughts of bad cheer at [email protected].
Though I’m feeling quite fine today, apparently I’m
suffering from grievous bodily injury. The prognosis is: I am dead
inside.
Or at least my fellow critics at the Bruin would lead me to
believe, seeing as how I thought “Pay it Forward” was a
dreadful, needless waste of film. As much as I wanted to like it, I
just couldn’t. It’s terrible, plain and simple.
The tear-jerker tale of one idealistic kid (Haley Joel Osment),
inspired by his idealistic teacher (Kevin Spacey), supported by his
somewhat idealistic mother (Helen Hunt) means to evoke strong
emotions. I’m pretty sure they wanted to make me sad, but
unfortunately for them, since my soul is dead, it just made me
bored.
There’s a plethora of reasons why this ought to be a good
movie. The main trio of actors, Spacey, Hunt and Osment are so
immensely talented, it ought to guarantee a high quality film. The
premise, improving the world through exponential good deeds, hey,
that’s solid, too. There’s potential for great depth in
all the major characters, with a possibility for a genre-defining
icon to emerge. To top it all off, it even takes place in Vegas,
which everyone knows is a virtual mecca for interesting looking
flicks.
So why isn’t it a good movie? There’s a plethora of
reasons for that, too. Two out of three principal actors never
really go anywhere. As truly innovative as the central theme behind
the movie is, it gets lost in cumbersome handling of the plot line.
Even the mighty neon of Vegas really can’t save it.
It’s sad to see such a promising concept sabotage itself.
Illustration by JARRETT QUON/Daily Bruin Spacey presents one of
the main problems with the film ““ he’s such a fine
actor, he should have a better role than this. Throughout, you
watch him wanting to bust out of this stupid, hackneyed mold and
shine, but he never really does, held back by formulaic lines and a
lack of opportunities to shine on his own.
He plays Eugene Simonet, the emotionally and physically scarred
junior high school teacher looking to change the world. Great idea,
right? So great, in fact, it’s been done before in
“Stand and Deliver,” “Lean on Me,”
“Dangerous Minds” and “Mr. Holland’s
Opus.” It’s not Spacey’s fault that he’s
saddled with a role that’s been played to death, but
it’s painful to watch him, since he’s capable of far
stronger performances. It’s like giving Leonardo DaVinci a
napkin, a few crayons and a twenty minute timeline ““
he’s not going to make the Mona Lisa.
The same is true for Helen Hunt. It’s worse for her,
however, because her character is ripped from Hunt’s own back
catalog. Essentially, she’s still Carol Connelly in “As
Good As It Gets,” with a twist of Nicolas Cage’s
alcoholism in “Leaving Las Vegas.” Once again, not her
fault, but that doesn’t help “Pay it Forward” at
all.
Now as for Haley Joel, the darling of Hollywood, for his
captivating turn in “The Sixth Sense.” I can’t
really pick on him at all. His portrayal of the wide-eyed dreamer
Trevor is incredible, really only the redeeming thing about the
film. It’s almost worth going to see it for him alone, but
don’t do that. You’d be better served renting it, so
you can fast-forward through all the scenes he’s not in.
Haley Joel Osment plays a wide-eyed dreamer in
“Pay it Forward.”
Trevor also comes up with a really good philosophical concept
for his school project. A somewhat naive one, true, but great
theory nonetheless. Simply put, one person starts by doing three
really good deeds to help other people, something they
couldn’t do on their own. To pay them back (or pay them
“forward” as the line goes), the recipient then has to
find three more people and continue the string. If it worked in
real life, the trend would grow ridiculously fast. Unfortunately,
people just aren’t that nice.
The true failing of the movie is its shameless reliance on a
long, long string of cliches that shouldn’t go together.
Perhaps director Mimi Leder is constrained by the fact that the
script is based on a book. Then again, if she stayed true to the
original, it was a lame story that shouldn’t have gotten made
into a movie. I’ll admit, I haven’t read it, so I
can’t accurately gauge the merits of the original, but either
way, the film version is more rotten than a forgotten carton of
eggs.
Helen Hunt, Haley Joel Osment,
and Kevin Spacey form the talented cast for
“Pay It Forward.” I’m tempted to reveal the
ending, just so people won’t waste their time going to see
it, however, even that’s a little too mean-spirited for me.
Though it was intended to be touching, the finale seemed tacked on.
It’s as if they realized that they had a bad movie on their
hands, but if they threw in a tragic twist, people would cry and
forget what a terrible film it is.
So yes, perhaps I am cynical and evil. Maybe my soul is dead. I
did learn something, however. As my attempt to spread good cheer by
paying it forward, I’m encouraging everyone to not go see
this. Trust me, you’ll thank me later.