Pay It Forward

The Citizen Kane of "Oscar bait" movies, even told in a round-the-house non-linear narrative as a reporter is on the mysterious case of people doing nice things for complete strangers to discover what the hell is going on in 21st century America. People being nice to each other? What kind of witchcraft is this?

The source happens to be a schoolboy who invents "good deeds" as the homework assignment his teacher requested when he asked his pupils to think of ways to make the world a better place.

The story has its heart in the right place and may have the big puppy dog eyes and wag its tail incessantly, but the sheer mawkish cheesiness of it all makes it impossible to provoke a real emotional reaction. A good idea is lost here, better writing and better direction could have made a better movie.