Terry Tang Tang would like to adopt Haley Joel
Osment. Anyone who feels the same way, especially after seeing
“Pay It Forward” can e-mail their thoughts to wootang@ucla.edu
If there’s one thing you can always count on from the
Daily Bruin A&E section, it’s that we will never debate
over frivolous matters like presidential campaigns. No, no. We
conduct public, head-to-head discourse on important issues like
whether a movie is a work of art or something that just
doesn’t deserve to see the light of day.
Basically, does a film packaged with Oscar-caliber actors and a
creative premise live up to its promise or just plain suck?
“Pay It Forward” is one of those movies that begs the
question. See, my colleague Brent (Yeah, that weird-looking cartoon
opposite mine) and I both attended an advance screening of the
family drama, but we both came away feeling quite differently
toward the film. Unlike Brent, I think that “Pay It
Forward,” despite an awkward ending, deserves high marks for
moving acting and an very involving storyline.
In the film, we are introduced to seventh-grader Trevor McKinny
(Haley Joel Osment). On his first day of school, he meets his new
social studies teacher, Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey), who happens
to be grossly disfigured. Although he initially seems reserved, Mr.
Simonet quickly engages the kids in a year-long extra credit
assignment: think of a way to change the world and put it into
action.
Illustration by JARRETT QUON/Daily Bruin An inspired Trevor then
comes up with a humane idea: do one big favor for three people who
will, instead of paying him back, pay it forward. In a chain-letter
fashion, the three people Trevor help will each extend random acts
of kindness to three others, and so on. Trevor decides to pay
favors forward to a homeless man and his alcoholic mother, Arlene
(Helen Hunt).
However, only the audience knows how monumental Trevor’s
school project actually is. When a reporter (Jay Mohr) ends up on
the receiving end of a huge favor from a stranger, he decides to
trace back the links until he finds out who started the whole
chain.
Now, one unspoken rule in Hollywood is that if you want to rise
up through the ranks, you never, ever, work with animals or
children. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Haley Joel Osment. The
12-year-old’s performance in last year’s hit thriller,
“The Sixth Sense,” was not a fluke. This kid can act
better than many adults on TV and film today.
Nobody else could have played the precocious Trevor. After all,
Osment has a way of making his fellow actors believe that a grown
professional is trapped in that 12-year-old body.
He is practically reason enough to watch the movie.
Osment’s adorable and expressive face is not just there to
give puppy dog eyes. Even when this boy provides comic relief with
his character’s boldness ““ as in playing Cupid for
Arlene and Eugene ““ he brings depth and heart to it.
Haley Joel Osment plays a wide-eyed dreamer in
"Pay it Forward."
But one of his greater gifts is that he helps strengthen the
performances from his co-stars. The mother-son dynamic between
Osment and Hunt makes for some pretty heart-wrenching moments. An
important subplot develops when the more Arlene drinks, the more
enraged Trevor becomes. Although Trevor cops an attitude toward
her, he doesn’t come out looking like a spoiled brat.
Instead, you can understand why he’s hurt. So, it’s
especially gratifying when the two begin to knock down the walls
they’ve built to hide from their problems.
As for Spacey, who can probably make reading a newspaper
interesting, his alter ego isn’t quite as much fun or as
complex as Lester Burnham in “American Beauty.” Still,
it’s not the horrific scars on his face and body that create
pity and pathos. It’s the way the actor carefully pulls back
the curtain over Eugene’s fear of physical and emotional
intimacy.
Angie Dickinson, who normally plays polished and sophisticated
matriarchs, is almost unrecognizable as a homeless woman. She also
has some shining moments as the audience sees how the
Pay-it-forward design affects her outlook.
But alas, I can’t defend the ending to Brent or anyone
else. If it weren’t for the ending, this movie would have
been almost perfect. I don’t want to give anything away. The
story takes what, to me, is an unpredictable twist.
I’m not bothered because I didn’t see it coming.
I’m bothered because I don’t see the point of it except
to draw a path to a very syrupy finale.
The idea of paying it forward is an admirable one. And I’m
sure director Mimi Leder wanted to stir us up about how one child
made such an impact on the lives of not just his family and how
they see themselves, but of perfect strangers. But she overdoes it
in the end and turns the dramatic storytelling into unabashed
mush.
And I keep asking myself when was the last time I saw Kevin
Spacey in a movie with such a high gooeyness factor. I guess
“The Negotiator” comes close ““ no, this ending is
worse.
Helen Hunt, Haley Joel
OsmentKevin Spacey form the talented cast for "Pay It
Forward." Still, I don’t think the ending can or should
eclipse the solid and warm performances that come out of this film.
I encourage everybody to go watch the film, even if you’re
just a little bit curious. And it’s not so farfetched to see
how one kid’s imagination manifested into a movement of
unsanctioned generosity. In reality, when people arbitrarily give
no-strings-attached aid, they don’t usually see the results
over time. But in “Pay It Forward,” we have the luxury
of seeing how things turn out. And the result? It’s got me
thinking how I can pay it forward. Hopefully, we all take a little
time out to consider that.