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104: Pay It Forward with Carson Olshansly

July 24, 2026 · 1 h 38 min

Show notes

Phil and Emily are joined by comedian Carson Olshansky for Mimi Leder's Pay It Forward (2000). Haley Joel Osment plays a seventh-grader who answers a social-studies assignment think of a way to change the world by inventing a simple chain reaction: do a big favor for three people, and ask each of them to "pay it forward." Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt orbit as the scarred teacher and the struggling single mom the plan quietly sets out to fix.
The three get into how a movie this earnest slowly curdles into something else, the infamous ending and whether it earns a single second of it, Spacey and Hunt doing an enormous amount of Very Serious Acting, and what it's like to revisit a turn-of-the-millennium prestige weepie with fresh, unsentimental eyes. Affectionate and merciless in roughly equal measure.
Follow the show & guest:
Podcast Like It's... - https://www.instagram.com/podcastlikeitsPhil Iscove - https://www.instagram.com/pmiscoveEmily St. James - https://www.instagram.com/emilystjamsCarson Olshansky - https://www.instagram.com/carsonolshansky

💜 Patreon (bonus episodes & video): http://patreon.com/Podcastlikeits

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