Pay It Forward (2000)

Release date: 2000-10-20
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Mimi Leder
Production Co: Warner Bros., Bel Air Entertainment, Tapestry Films
Genre: Drama
Rating: 7.2/10
Length: 2h 3min

Storyline

Young Trevor McKinney, troubled by his mother's alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, is caught up by an intriguing assignment from his new social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet. The assignment: think of something to change the world and put it into action. Trevor conjures the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward--repaying good deeds not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people. Trevor's efforts to make good on his idea bring a revolution not only in the lives of himself, his mother and his physically and emotionally scarred teacher, but in those of an ever-widening circle of people completely unknown to him.

Plot Keywords

abusive husband, teacher student relationship, social injustice, drug addiction, disfigurement, charity, interview, mother son relationship, forgiveness, teaching, news reporter, child's point of view, precocious child, homeless man, teacher, boy, alcoholism, protective male, title directed by female, junior high school

Short Review

if this is what Hollywood considers serious, important filmmaking, maybe the movie industry should stick to the low road. Directed with the in-your-face subtlety of a sitcom, the tone of the movie is weirdly miscalculated from the get-go.