Pay it Forward

Boston Globe Jay Carr

The kind of film you've got to admire simply for the way it squares its shoulders and plunges into a message of unfashionable idealism.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Another gutsy, big-budget movie that dares to say something new and optimistic about our messed-up times. And it almost, but not quite, brings it off.

Variety Todd McCarthy

An unusual film that intelligently avoids numerous potential pitfalls even if its central earnestness is ultimately inescapable.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The combination of restrained writing and direction and top-of-the-line acting is enough to make even confirmed agnostics want to believe in this unashamed fairy tale.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

Heavy-handed, saccharine message somehow goes down good.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

It's a pretty nice movie until, like a Ponzi plan, it collapses.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

With a cleaner story line, the basic idea could have been free to deliver. As it is, we get a better movie than we might have, because the performances are so good.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

Either you will weep uncontrollably during the final 10 minutes or so of this bittersweet fable...or the urge to gag will be overwhelming.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

More of a sales pitch than a movie.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Works unexpectedly well for its first three quarters.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

You'll enjoy this sentimental drama if you feel good intentions are their own reward, at least where movies are concerned; but it'll exasperate you if you want your entertainment to have some connection with the world we actually live in.

Film.com Robert Horton

Spacey and company deserve better.

San Francisco Chronicle Bob Graham

Has all the elements of a satisfying movie except knowing when to stop.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

My rule of thumb for manipulative movies: I don't mind playing the marionette as long as the strings aren't visible.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Winds up making a very good case for never going out of your way to help anybody.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

There's no faulting this movie's Capra-esque concept, equal parts optimism and sad recognition of the world's intrinsic harshness, but its manipulative execution may rub you the wrong way.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

There's the world-alteringly scary possibility that (Leder) might be trying to kill us with a star-studded "After School Special."

Chicago Tribune Marc Caro

Too high-minded to stoop as low as it does, particularly in its unforgivably manipulative ending.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

It's too bad about the ending because, until then, Pay It Forward... is Hollywood feel-goodism at its best.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

Despite being full of Oscar-winning talent, this is still just a better-dressed, drawn-out episode of "Touched by an Angel."

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Feels more TV movie-of-the-week than Oscar contender.

Film.com Sean Means

Tragic and phony, and proof that a contrived sad ending can be as bad as a contrived happy ending.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

It's so enamored of its own upbeat view of human nature that it expects you to overlook its stick-figure characters, its creaky plot machinery and its remorseless assault on your tear ducts.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

(Leder's) camera won't sit still long enough to complete a scene and tell a coherent story, skittering all over the map until you're dizzy from all the degrees of separation and spurious connection.

Washington Post Rita Kempley

Baldly manipulative, emotionally counterfeit melodrama.

Slate David Edelstein

Had enough grit to scratch its way through my cynical defenses, at least until its grotesque ending. But that capper isn't an aberration -- it's the logical extension of the movie's grandiose ambitions.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The truth is that this programmatic Christian parable is pretty unbearable--glib, often myopic, and reeking with sentimentality and self-pity.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

At its core, a very manipulative piece of work.

Time Richard Schickel

As rigged as a casino slot machine, preying on people's hopes but paying off only for the house.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

No wonder Arlene (Hunt) keeps a bottle of vodka in the chandelier. You would too with this demonic, passive-aggressive, New Age munchkin (Osment) trying to run your life.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Pushes and pushes and pushes the emotional throttle without respite.

Newsweek David Ansen

If this is what Hollywood considers serious, important filmmaking, maybe the movie industry should stick to the low road.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Crass manipulation can clean up at the box office, so do your part: Nail this flick as a bottom feeder and pay the bad word forward to three others.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

An overflowing septic tank of chicken-soupy sanctimony that proceeds from casually offensive hypocrisy to wretchedly inapt religiosity.