While this could have turned into unmitigated schmaltz, the acting elevates this film to mitigated schmaltz. By turns powerful and measured, the performances of Spacey, Hunt, and Osment can't make up for the many missteps in a screenplay that sanitizes the look of the lower-middle class and expects us to believe that homeless alcoholics and junkies speak in the elevated manner of grad students. (Can that really be Angie Dickinson as Hunt's dispossessed mother? Yes, it is!) The germ of the story is a good one, though, and one may wonder how it would have been handled by the likes of Frank Capra, who could balance sentiment with humor. But clearly Capra would never have let the ending of his version to take the nosedive into cliche and pathos that director Mimi Leder has allowed in this film. More than a few viewers will also recognize that Leder has blatantly borrowed her final image from Field of Dreams, where its intended effect was more keenly and honestly felt. --Jim Gay

Product Description
How much impact can one heartfelt idea have? a junior-high students class project idea ignites a chain reaction of goodness and consequences. The boys idea: when someone does you a favor dont pay it back pay it forward. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008 Starring: Kevin Spacey Haley Joel Osment Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Mimi Leder