Pay It Forward

Pay It Forward (2000) is a drama from director Mimi Leder you can watch online on iFILM. Seventh-grader Trevor McKinney comes up with one rule: help three people, and ask each of them to pass the favor on instead of paying it back.

It starts as a homework assignment. Teacher Eugene Simonet, his face scarred by old burns, dares the class to change the world. Trevor actually tries. He takes in a homeless man, plays matchmaker for his struggling mother Arlene, and sets off a chain of kindness that spreads through the city faster than he can track. Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and a young Haley Joel Osment carry it all in quiet scenes that never beg for tears.

Based on the novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde, the film gave its title to the very idea of paying good deeds forward. The ending pulls no punches and lands harder than any easy resolution. Stream Pay It Forward (2000) online on iFILM.