PAY IT FORWARD
This movie was released in 2000, starring Kevin Spacey as Eugene Simonet, Helen Hunt as Arlene McKinney, and Haley Joel Osment as Trevor McKinney. This movie made a lasting impression on me, so I was shocked to find that reviews were not very good. Trevor lives with his recovering alcoholic mother. He's very serious for his age. Eugene Simonet is a Social Studies teacher. Mr. Simonet gave an assignment to come up with something that could change the world. Trevor presented his idea to find 3 people to do something kind for and ask each of them to pay it forward to 3 more people. Good idea...will it work?
In the process, Trevor tries to unite his teacher with his mother because he sees them as two lost and lonely souls.
In an interview about his project, he said something profound. "You have to watch people more, sorta keep an eye on them to protect them because they can't always see what they need."
Later in the interview, he was asked the question "Do you want people to 'Pay It Forward' for your birthday?" He thought for a moment and said, "It wouldn't work." When asked why? He replied, "I already blew out my candles."
To keep from being a spoiler I won't give you the ending. I do believe his experiment would be a wonderful thing. It's worth the watch.
