- Introduction -

I first heard of the movie Pay It Forward through an interview with my favourite music group, the Backstreet Boys. My favourite member Brian has mentioned a few times in interviews that this was at least one of his favourite movies and otherwise, I hadn't heard of it. It came out in 2000 but I don't remember hearing anything about it on TV at the time (maybe I was busy then, I don't know) and so I guess it sort of slipped under my radar.

Anyway, I was recently looking for DVDs of movies to purchase for watching over the festive holiday season and when I came across this title, I thought, from the little I'd heard of it, it sounded like it would make for quite a good movie to watch over Christmas and New Year. Amazon.co.uk are selling it pretty cheap at the moment, for £5.97 (plus about £1.24 for regular p&p costs, or you can use the super saver delivery and get it with free p&p if you spend a total of £15 or more, thats the current price as of December 30th 2007), so I thought what the heck, I'd just splash out and buy it new.

Having been busy with other things for a good part of the week, I decided to sit down and watch this last night and I have to say, I was glad I bought it, its really quite a moving and touching movie and I think I made a good choice.

- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) -
Source:- IMDB (see:-http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0223897/fullcredits)

Director - Mimi Leder
Screenplay - Leslie Dixon
Based on the book by - Catherine Ryan Hyde
Producers - Peter Abrams, Robert R. Levy, Steven Reuther
Executive Producers - Mary McLaglen and Jonathan Treisman
Associate Producer - Paddy Carson
Cinematography - Oliver Stapleton

- Story (incl. main acting cast) -

Pay it Forward is mainly about one young boy by the name of Trevor McKinney (played by Haley Joel Osment, probably best known for his role next to Bruce Willis in the late 90s supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense), who struggles to cope with his family situation, as his father is a drunk and abusive man who has left home (he's played briefly by Jon Bon Jovi) and his mother (played by Helen Hunt) also has a drinking problem and is often not home, leaving him by himself.

On Trevors first day of seventh grade (which is the start of middle school in the US, ie the last few years before starting high school I believe), he's intrigued during his first social studies class, where the teacher, Eugene Simonet (played by Kevin Spacey), sets everyone a special task - a challenge to think of something that will make the world a better place and, possibly more importantly, to put it into action.

As Trevor bikes home from school, he stops and notices some homeless people (he lives near a rather rough area in Las Vegas, NV), which makes him think again and he decides to try and help out one of these homeless people, as well as two others (including those closer to home) and for each of these people, he decides he'll explain to them that instead of paying him back for the favour he gave them, he wants them to do a favour for three other people and so it will go on, in a sort of a pyramid scheme sort of a way (only without money having to be paid upfront and without it being a scam of course), this concept is called Paying it Forward.

Paying it Forward isn't as easy as it maybe sounds though, as Trevor decides that each person he he helps must be done properly, it must be something that requires real effort to help them, to really help to change the world and be sure that it really means something. Feeling sorry for his mum and missing having a father figure around, he tries to pair her up with his teacher Eugene and it turns out that the two of them both have complicated lives and rocky histories, so to speak.

As well as Trevor and his family though, the movie also follows a reporter, Chris Chandler (played by Jay Mohr), who, really out of a matter of co-incidence, becomes one of the lucky people who is given a favour out of this concept. His car is destroyed at the start of the movie and a stranger approaches him, giving him a brand new Jaguar. Being very sceptical, as most people would, he questions this and the stranger basically says that there are no strings attached, other than that he should pay it forward, not back and so he decides to track down the story of this concept and find out who else has been given favours like this and where it all comes from.

Many of the loose ends are tied up at the end of the movie, with the reporter getting to the source of it all in Las Vegas.

Will Trevor be able to do his three acts of kindness and help out his family? will his mum find new love in Eugene? yes of course you'll have to watch the movie to find out.

- Genre/Themes etc. -

I'm not sure quite what exact genre this would go in, the thought-provoking genre perhaps, if thats one(?) but basically its a weepy, sentimental movie about a flawed family and the sons attempt to bring things back together and do things for good, so that should give you a rough idea.

The movie touches on many themes, from forgiveness and being scared to change (as a person), which applies to Eugene and also alcohol and domestic abuse, doing whats right (rather obviously), as well as good ol' hope, faith and belief. It isn't really a preachy movie I felt though, don't worry if you think it might be, its not that bad and there isn't much of a religious tone about it either, thats only slightly touched upon at the very end, in a touching way.

Its clear from what I've said that this is a sentimental movie, so it is one that requires you to have a few tissues at your side, you have been warned!

- My Thoughts/Opinions -

I thought that this was a really well done movie. The characters of both Trevor and Eugene were performed particularly well, I felt quite sorry for Eugene in parts and the fascination of wondering what lay in his past and to find out how or if the whole concept of paying it forward could work really kept me interested in watching this right through to the end.

I can't say that the movie entirely answers everything, in that once its finished your left wondering, if this wasn't a fictional movie, could such a concept really work? is it worth a shot? in theory, its a pretty neat idea and sounds feasible. Of course, cynics would laugh this off, many people wouldn't believe that others would pay it forward, they'd find it hard to believe that some people wouldn't just take the free car or whatever it is and not bother to help anyone else out in return but I'm fairly sure there are at least some people who would try to re-pay the favour in that way. It makes you wonder, if we were all open and willing to give it a try, what would happen and could the world be made a better place. So in that sense, it is kind of touchy feely (sp?).

I like that the movie is quite realistic in that it shows Trevor coming from troubled parents and shows his side of things, its believeable that he would do what he does to try and help his family and you do feel sorry for the poor guy, trying to get a father figure and to help out both his teacher and his mum at the same time.

I must warn you, though, the ending has a twist, one that you probably won't see coming. I don't want to give it away but it is quite shocking. Thats another thing that I suppose did impress me about it too; it wasn't as predictable as such a movie probably could have been.

- Certificate -

Pay it Forward is rated 12. This is due to some adult themes being present, including alcohol recovery, some (pretty brief) sexual scenes, language and brief violence. I think the rating is about right, some of the matter dealt with wouldn't really be suitable for young children but it should be fine for teenagers to watch.

- DVD -

The DVD contains subtitles in English, Arabic, Romanian and Bulgarian. Its shown in widescreen 1.85:1 and offers 5.1 Dolby Digital audio.

As well as this, the DVD also has the following special features:-

* Feature-length audo commentary by director Mimi Leder

* Behind the scenes documentary 'HBO First Look: The Making of Pay it Forward' - a c. 12 minute documentary that doesn't really show you behind the scenes filming but more shares interview footage of the main cast discussing the movie, their thoughts of the story, the 'pay it forward' concept and their fellow co-workers, along with clips from the finished movie.

* Scene access

and the official movie

* Trailer

- Official Website -

http://payitforward.warnerbros.com/Pay_It_Forward/

On this site, you can find information about the main cast, the film and the novel its based on. You can also find links to download the movies theatrical trailer, a teaser clip and a couple of TV spots. As well as this, there's a link to a musicians website, who contributed music to the film and also a link to the WB (Warner Bros.) online shop, where it says you can purchase the movie on DVD (though this is the American site, which would offer the region 1 version of the DVD, so its better to purchase the DVD through a British site like Amazon.co.uk, HMV.co.uk or Play.com).

- Conclusions -

I really enjoyed this movie. I felt that the story, while not entirely original, was very well done and at least partly original, the whole paying it forward concept intrigued me and I felt sorry for Trevor and his home situation, as well as the other main characters and so watched with interest to see what would happen.

If your a cynic, you'll probably easily laugh this off but its nice to think that something like what this movie introduces (the whole concept), may be able to work. Yeah you have to sort of have blind faith and open your heart and all of this mushy stuff but it works well I feel. I thought it was a movie that was interesting though sad at times but with a good amount of hope and sentimentality and well enough based in what felt like a believeable or realistic setting, to make you question if this could really happen.

I was particularly impressed with Kevin Spaceys performance as Eugene, when the camera shows a close up scene or shot of Eugene with his scarred face (you have to wait until quite far in the movie to eventually discover where the scars came from, this is semi symbolic of his less than originally seemingly perfect life, if that makes sense) and you can really see the emotion that he tries to hide, he played his character very well I felt, as did Haley as Trevor.

This is a good thought provoking movie, it felt like the sort of movie that everyone should see once, if just to be given the chance to ponder yourself about whether the concept is one that you should try out, one that could be successful if only we all had a bit more hope and trust in others I suppose. Just be warned that you will need tissues and that there is a twist towards the end, I won't say how it ends but its a twist that you probably won't guess, so I can't say that it is, as alot of movies tend to be I feel, too predictable.

I highly recommend seeing this movie. I do feel that its one that I would like to watch again, maybe not anytime soon but I do think I would like to watch it again so I would recommend the DVD, although it doesn't offer too many special features, it has enough and can be purchased pretty cheaply.

I hope you found my review useful in deciding whether to see the movie or purchase the DVD, thanks for reading!