If the current box-office smash "Remember the Titans" proved that a good message can triumph over uneven filmmaking, then "Pay It Forward" goes to show quite the opposite.
Though, like "Titans," this film believes in the goodness of man — just take a gander at its seemingly antiquated notion that an act of kindness can change a life — it chooses to deliver that news in the worst way possible.
Whereas "Titans" drove its perhaps a bit corny points home softly, this contrived, even maudlin, drama bludgeons its underlying points home with the subtlety of a sledgehammer smash to the cranium.
Because of that, and a slew of other problems, it may be the biggest disappointment of the year, a film that's sure to polarize audiences and critics in much the same way that the syrupy blockbuster "Patch Adams" did.
What's particularly irritating about that is the fact that not only is it based on a beloved best-seller (by author Catherine Hyde Ryan), but it features an A-list cast made up of Oscar winners and nominees from the past couple of years.
Leading the pack is Kevin Spacey, who stars as Eugene Simonet, a newly arrived Las Vegas social studies teacher who believes in challenging his junior high students. (He's also physically scarred, though he doesn't like to talk about it.)
Not only does he talk in large words (for vocabulary lessons, natch), he's also given his students what's perhaps an impossible (though only for extra credit) assignment: in his exact words, "Think of an idea to change our world — and put it into ACTION!"
But one of his students, Trevor (Haley Joel Osment of "The Sixth Sense") takes the assignment a bit more seriously than his classmates. For his project, he comes up with the concept of "paying it forward," doing life-changing good deeds for three people, who then do the same for three others and so on.
For example, Trevor gives shelter, food and money to Jerry (Jim Caviezel), a homeless drug addict. And he's also working on putting his socially awkward teacher together with his mother, Arlene (Helen Hunt), a cocktail waitress with her own share of problems (for one thing, she's an alcoholic).
He soon finds that it's not as easy as it sounds, though. For one thing, Jerry has used the money to buy a fix. And there seems to be too much standing in the way of the planned romance — not the least of which is the return of Trevor's abusive, deadbeat father (Jon Bon Jovi).
It's not completely fair to ask director Mimi Leder ("Deep Impact") and screenwriter Leslie Dixon to shoulder all the blame (though they should at least take the brunt). After all, the source material may be unadaptable. What works in print simply doesn't work on celluloid here.
Another major problem is that we're simply asked to swallow too much, such as the sight of the usually snobby Hunt playing white trash — despite a rather earnest attempt on her part.
As for Spacey, he's stuck under rather unconvincing burn makeup and finds himself overcompensating at times, and Osment is never really given enough to show off his surprising chops.
"Pay It Forward" is rated PG-13 for scattered strong profanity, violence (a stabbing and some schoolyard brawling), simulated drug use (heroin), some use of crude slang terms, simulated sex (done discreetly) and use of racial epithets. Running time: 122 minutes.
E-MAIL: jeff@desnews.com