pay it forward movie review

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Pay It Forward

Where to watch.

Rent Pay It Forward on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Pay It Forward has strong performances from Spacey, Hunt, and Osment, but the movie itself is too emotionally manipulative and the ending is bad.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Kevin Spacey

Eugene Simonet

Arlene McKinney

Haley Joel Osment

Trevor McKinney

Chris Chandler

Jim Caviezel

Pay It Forward

A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance. A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance. A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance.

Catherine Ryan Hyde
Leslie Dixon
Kevin Spacey
Haley Joel Osment
689 User reviews
91 Critic reviews
40 Metascore
1 win & 4 nominations

Top cast 63

Eugene Simonet

Trevor McKinney

Arlene McKinney

Chris Chandler

(as James Caviezel)

Ricky McKinney

Sidney Parker
Mr. Thorsen

Woman on Bridge

Thorsen's Daughter
(as a different name)

Rough Kid #1
Rough Kid #2
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

Trivia In the scene where Helen Hunt 's character strikes her son Trevor across the face, Haley Joel Osment requested that she actually hit him to make it seem more realistic. However, director Mimi Leder declined to allow that to happen in the film.
Goofs The point of triage in an ER is to identify and treat patients in need of immediate care. No nurse in his/her right mind would pass over a girl having an acute asthma attack for an obviously stable man with a gunshot wound, no matter what order they arrived in.

Trevor McKenney : I think some people are too scared, or something. I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.

Connections Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Dr. T and the Women/Billy Elliot/The Ladies Man/Lost Souls/The Broken Hearts Club (2000)
Soundtracks You Gotta Move Written and Performed by Sam Cooke