Mimi Leder's new film "Pay It Forward" is one you desperately want to like. The story concerns an 11 year-old named Trevor played by Haley Joel Osment. It's his first year of middle school in Los Vegas and things around him are not too good. His mother, the ubiquitous Helen Hunt, is a would-be recovering alcoholic, and his father, Jon Bon Jovi only appears for a wife-beating cameo.

But school is a whole new ballgame. There he meets his social studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, played by Kevin Spacey, who gives the class an assignment to change the world. They have the whole year to get it done. It sounds ludicrous, but Mr. Simonet is serious about the task, and his sobriety rubs off on the impressionable young Trevor. After all, the world around him obviously needs some changing, and he does have time on his hands.

His plan is to help three people, who in turn will help three more people and so on, creating a pyramid of good deeds that could indeed change the world. The narrative unfolds in a non-linear manner, showing Trevor's plan in various stages of development and fruition simultaneously.

There are so many parts of "Pay it Forward" that are very fine, that I was dismayed to discover that in the end, the film is far less than the sum of its parts. Haley Joel Osment is delightful as Trevor, Kevin Spacey has the right amount of fragility and intensity as the teacher, and Helen Hunt provides another compelling performance as the mother.

I personally liked the non-linear unraveling of the story, which added elements of surprise and mystery that might not have otherwise occurred. And of course I loved the "random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty" message of the movie--who wouldn't? Maybe it's the ending, which felt contrived, and frankly like it belonged in another movie, that left me a such a feeling of discontent that the rest of the movie could not overcome it.


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