Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1748 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-07-30
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Arabic, Romanian, Bulgarian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 119 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Director Mimi Leder's third movie, Pay it Forward, finds her moving into softer, more intimate territory after making her name with a pair of high-budget action spectaculars, The Peacemaker and Deep Impact. This is a would-be heart-warming fable about the power of human kindness, but it's handled with such heavy sententiousness as to suggest that she might do better sticking to the big-bang stuff. Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, A.I.), son of a struggling lone parent (Helen Hunt) in Las Vegas, is influenced by inspirational teacher Kevin Spacey to come up with a scheme for social betterment: do acts of benevolence to three people, each of whom then does something good for three more, and so on. Inevitably, the lad's first ventures come to grief, but then the idea starts catching on and spreading, and a reporter in Los Angeles gets wind of it. This Readers Digest-ish scenario, treated with great solemnity by Leder and screenwriter Leslie Dixon, leaves the cast struggling to make something individual out of their pre-cooked roles. As you'd expect given such a line-up of acting talent, several scenes come off better than they deserve, and Spacey in particular does wonders with what is, in effect, two Hollywood clichés rolled into one: not just "offbeat inspirational teacher" but "shy, reclusive burns victim" as well. Interesting, too, to see a Vegas-set movie that shows a low-rent side of the city well away from the glitz and glamour of the Strip. But in the end, all else is drowned out by the clatter of predetermined plot-points being hammered home.

On the DVD: Extras include a commentary from Leder, and a 13-minute "making-of" documentary that includes cast and director interviews. None of it, though, tells us much we couldn't have gathered from the movie. The clean widescreen (1.85:1) print and the Dolby 5.1 sound deliver on quality, and come fully into their own in the all-out bravura finale--shameless tear-jerking on a grand scale. --Philip Kemp

Special Features
16:9 Wide Screen
DVD 9
Italian
English
Region 2
Dolby Surround English
Dolby Surround 5.1
Audio Commentary
The Making Of

Synopsis
Based on a best-selling novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde and boasting the star power of three prior Oscar winners--Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment--PAY IT FORWARD spins a heartwarming yarn about an 11-year-old boy who comes up with an utopian idea as a project for school. History teacher Eugene Simenot (Spacey) offers the same ongoing extra-credit assignment he has proffered every year: Come up with an idea that will change the world. However, he expects nothing more from his students than halfhearted efforts that fall far shy of their mark. Simenot is therefore unprepared for precocious, irrepressible Trevor McKinney (played with wide-eyed wonder by Osment), who conjures up a stunning scheme. Trevor suggests the concept that every person who benefits from someone else's good deed should "pay it forward," instead of paying it back, and in turn offer favors to three other people. The first guinea pig for Trevor's experiment is his overworked, imperfect mom (Helen Hunt) for whom he tries to find a boyfriend.
Director Mimi Leder, best known for such powerful thrillers as DEEP IMPACT, imbues the solid script of PAY IT FORWARD with a more grandiose aura. However, it is the movie's triumvirate of heralded stars--Spacey, Hunt, and Osment--that propels this compelling yarn.

Customer Reviews

It's pay forward time!
This movie expresses how one soul can touch the masses.

This concept is inspirational! It defines belief, faith and the true spirit of human nature.

Watch it and weep!

See it - it's better than you might be led to believe!
Many reviews accuse this film of being emotionally manipulative. Which films aren't?.Whilst it skates very close to what might be described as sentimentality its own special qualities save it from falling into the swamp. Chief among these is the quality of the acting of the three leads.
The ending appears to cause some critics particular difficulty and I have noticed that their reaction to it is sometimes quite emotional considering their criticism of the manipulative 'sentimentality' of the film. I wonder whether this indicates a greater emotional impact than they would care to admit? Possibly a genuine grief reaction? I was certainly taken by surprise by the power of my own reaction, which I can only put down to a tremendous screen 'presence' built up throughout the movie.

A Lesson for All Viewers
Pay It Forward is one of the most inspirational movies I have ever seen. The most inspiring characteristics of this movie is the actions of one child making a difference in so many lives. Everyone complains about life, but no one really does anything to change it. In "Pay It Forward" you see that one person can really make a difference, not in just one life, but many lives without ever knowing that person. Hayley Joel Osment is an extraordinary actor with such tremendous vision in his role in this movie. Kevin Spacey, gives one of the best performances of his career as the teacher trying to overcome his own insecurities. And Helen Hunt gives a compelling performance in the movie as well.

I think that classrooms around the globe should have students watch "Pay It Forward" to enlighten youngsters to truly make a difference. You never know the true genius that our own children have inside them.