Pay it forward

Herald rating: * *

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, Hayley Joel Osment
Director: Mimi Leder

Rating: M (low-level violence)

Running time: 125 minutes

Screening: Village, Hoyts, Berkeley cinemas

Review: Tim Watkin

The idea works like that old shampoo ad. You know, "she gave it to a friend, and so on, and so on." Except Pay it Forward is advertising kindness.

Based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, it's the story of a boy who gets a social studies assignment to change the world and actually goes about doing it. At least that's what it purports to be.

It is, in fact, a vehicle for Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt's characters to rescue each other from their demons in an all-too-obvious love story.

Mr Simonet (Spacey) is a new teacher in Las Vegas, his face scarred with burns. His trick to getting his class' attention is this assignment: "Think of an idea to change our world and put it into action."

Trevor McKinney (Osment) is a serious 11-year-old who comes up with the idea of doing three good deeds - really big, difficult deeds - on the condition that the recipient do good deeds for three other people. And so on.

Of course, Trevor has a single mum (Hunt), and one of his good deeds is to set her up on a date with his teacher and ... you can figure the rest.

At this point this Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Movie loses whatever potential it might have had. Like the pay it forward concept itself, the film fails to live up to its core ideal. The self-help shallowness of modern America takes over. The ideal is about risky, gracious generosity, but packages it into three deeds (why only be outrageously kind three times in your life, for crying out loud?).

Likewise, the film moves swiftly to the safe, predictable ground of an adult romance that conquers the lovers' past pains and addictions. Trevor is sidelined until the final scenes - which are shameless tearjerkers.

But that burst of tenderness from his grandmother's appearance, left until the film's end, comes too late. The film's dishonesty has sucked any humanity from the story.

The idea is not an 11-year-old's idea, it's too contrived. Trevor's articulate speeches and profound rejoinders do not fit in an 11-year-old's mouth. The follow-on good deeds don't ring true and Spacey, in particular, just isn't believable.

On the point of dishonesty, it's telling to note that the Pay It Forward Foundation's website - yep, there's a foundation - actually warns kids not to copy Trevor's first kind act by taking a homeless person into their homes. Makes you wonder if foundation members really understand the idea or mean what they say.

Don't bother with this one. If you want a great story of unbridled grace and kindness, rent Babette's Feast from the video store. There, that's my first good deed done.