Pyramid schemes prove equally heinous in film and business

There is nothing inherently wrong with a tear-jerker.

The classical Greeks realized this, and did not hesitate to pull some heartstrings with the wrenching third-act collapse of a hero. The difference between those bygone lapidary cry-fests ("good") and TV movie-of-the-week weepers ("evil") is that the grand Greek arias of grief were articulate, sincere and archeptypal - pretty much the exact opposite of the tripe that has come to be associated with the term "tear-jerker."

Director Mimi Leder - who was responsible for one of the 90s' worst action movies with 1997's "The Peacemaker" (no easy feat, when one considers that this is the decade of "Con Air" and "Alien Resurrection") - has extended her poisonous tentacles into the cathartic arena with "Pay It Forward," an obnoxious and overt Oscar bid for its three leads.

Kevin Spacey turns in a typically first-rate performance as Mr. Simonet, a burn victim and middle school social studies teacher who really cares. The overrated Helen Hunt plays Arlene, an alcoholic single mother unable to resist her abusive ex-boyfriend, and plucky "Sixth Sense" moppet Haley Joel Osment plays Trevor, an idealistic seventh-grader who, for some reason, cannot see dead people.

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