Along the course of the past week, my 9th grade English Language Arts class watched the movie Pay It Forward. It is a movie you would expect to be seeing in a school, in that it spreads a preachy, sappy message, and certainly does not believe subtlety is a good policy. Also along the lines of a typical school-shown movie, Pay It Forward is definitely not the best movie you’re going to see in your lifetime. The story stars eleven-year-old Trevor, along with his single, alcoholic mother who works as a casino cop and a waitress at a strip club, Arlene. Another character to focus on is Trevor’s Social Studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, who tells his students, and I quote to “Think of a plan to change the world, and put it to action”. Bon Jovi also makes an appearance, playing the role of Trevor’s biological father, although for the most part this review shall not touch on that.
Unlike most “school movies”, as I like call them, this movie has some good points that are noteworthy. Many of the characters met at the beginning of the movie make a re-appearance at the end – Namely Jerry, a homeless person Trevor helps out in an effort to “change the world” – Accomplishing the Social Studies assignment given to the whole class by Mr. Simonet. The story also has its share comical scenes, most of which go hand-in-hand with the appearance of Sydney, an African-American male who appears throughout the film. Trevor’s wit is also shown throughout the movie, such as when he matchmakes Mr. Simonet and Arlene. If you enjoy some controversial humor, and know when something is not being serious, you will find some parts of this movie enjoyable.
“School movies”, however, are still “school movies”. The movie has numerous gaps in the script, and the characters do not seem realistic or consistent. For instance, when Trevor was match-making Mr. Simonet and Arlene, Arlene herself did not know anybody was going to visit, yet she was suspiciously prettied-up, considering the only people at home were her and Trevor. In addition, numerous scenes just make you want to facepalm regarding Trevor. For instance, he actually thinks just helping three people is going to change the world, and when those three apparently fail (Even though he didn’t try for one of them yet) he just gave up, rather than thinking of other people to help. Another unrealistic character is a criminal seen at the beginning of the movie, where a reporter unintentionally distracts the police. The criminal escapes in a vehicle, and deliberately crashes into a car – The reporter’s car. Not any of the three police cars, but the nice Ford Mustang that is, essentially, a civilian vehicle. This just makes you want to ask, “why?”.
The movie also tries leading you to believe the entire rest of the world is completely selfish until other people are nice to them, except for Trevor who is apparently the only person who can think up of the “Pay it Forward” plan on his own, even though his grandmother, Sydney, a politician, and possibly many more people have already ended up part of a community of Forward Payers. Even the televised news gives all the credit to Trevor, a 7th grader, for starting the Pay it Forward movement. In the time span of the movie, it is nearly impossible for the three people Trevor helped to have paid it forward to a mob worth of people, unless Jerry had the helpful spirit of every Care Bear/Little Pony, the power to do whatever of Jesus, and almost as many books Patchouli Knowledge to have done any of the things mentioned in that movie. Not only that, but when has the news ever paid attention to a 7th grader? Why did the other members of his class just say stupid ideas for their assignment, like telling all the kids in China to jump at the same time?
Overall, I give this movie a 3/10. The message was good-hearted, and it had some comedy. The actors did a decent job portraying the roles, looking and sounding as you would expect them to. However, the special effects were poor. The shots from within the cars are obviously green screen in the background, for instance. The music was trying too hard. The characters themselves were unrealistic or inconsistent, and the story writing was too preachy. There was a lot more in this I could have covered, but they were either less important details or featured a major plot twist that would spoil the movie. If you happen to like overly preachy and sappy movies that are inconsistent and try too hard, well, this is the movie for you. Otherwise, I assure you, you will not like this movie.