Paid In Full
Sensitive, saccharine and practically messianic, Pay It Forward works like a charm
It's a little bit sickening to be sounding the Oscar trumpet so far in advance, but the performances -- purposefully clunky, junky and funky -- are by far this production's strongest suit. As if it weren't enough to receive fine supporting work from Jon Bon Jovi as Trevor's deranged father in a wife-beater shirt, and Angie Dickinson as an absentee alcoholic grandmother, the other adults arrive far above expectations. Caviezel instills his artless dodger with hangdog hope, and for most of the story, Mohr's scoop-seeker is, fittingly, probing yet unpleasant, like some inaccurate rectal thermometer. Topping the bill, Hunt is willing to spend half the movie looking like a train wreck, and it's to her credit that she manages to hypnotize us into buying her as a working-class bimbo. Her scenes with Spacey, who delivers his most vulnerable and expressive performance to date, provide plenty of emotional pyrotechnics, a welcome adjustment from the whirling cameras and effects of Leder's first two outings. When Eugene explains to Arlene, from experience, that all a father needs to do to destroy a child is simply to not love him, the resonance haunts the theater.
Now, with regard to the kid. Yes, as his work in The Sixth Sense attests, Osment is a superb young actor, capable of holding his own in extreme close-up. The problem here is that this character doesn't allow him to stretch very far from the role that made him famous. Adoring pro wrestling and asking smart questions of his elders, he's a perfect preadolescent, but the script doesn't give him adequate room to breathe. Besides -- despite the ethereal New Age strokes Dixon uses to paint him -- he's just way too young to be waxing messianic.
Pay It Forward will be prompting a lot of talk this season, and possibly even some action, but there's nothing particularly new or intriguing about its elements. Goodness knows we've seen enough irritable professors fighting to educate reactionary youths, and bum dads are a dime a thousand. By the end, when Leder has gained our undivided attention, it's a shame she decides to descend into pabulum -- a candlelight vigil by way of a Coke commercial. All in all, it's good to know that this gargantuan inspirational pamphlet isn't foolproof. (If it were, Warner Bros. would be obliged to pay forward its copious returns.) To escape the reprogramming, ask yourself this question: If someone gives you a ration of shit, should you also pay that forward?
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