I really did want to like this movie. I thought it was an original premise and it could have been a great feel-good movie. Then they went and ruined it in the end by killing Haley Joel Osment's character. I was left wondering by this. Was the whole movie meant to be ironic, and the message that trying to help people will only eventually lead you to trouble? Or was it just to wring tears from the audience? Sadly, I think it's the latter, and it was shamelessly manipulative in this regard. I couldn't take it seriously; I actually started laughing in the theater. Another movie that COULD HAVE BEEN good was ruined by the ending. And I know it happens that way in the book (which I've never read and surely never will); I don't care. Maybe it was a bad book too. So I gave it 3 stars because it started good and was pretty good throughout, despite the overacting of Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey (who, by the way, was black in the book, so it's far from a pure translation by any measure). Haley Joel Osment, Jay Mohr, and Angie Dickinson really carried the movie; they all put in excellent performances. But the ending was easily one of the worst of all time, and I can't in good conscience give a higher rating to a movie that ended so badly when the ending ruined my enjoyment of the movie so much.
Review of Pay It Forward
