This new film moves along smoothly until Grandpa's most preposterous mission - which needlessly drags out the movie -- takes Jason to a severely caricatured Ecuador.
The Ultimate Gift (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:13
Fresh:2
Rotten:11
Average Rating:4.5/10
Consensus: Though The Ultimate Gift avoids religious speechifying like other Fox Faith films, it's dramatically inert with flat direction.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for thematic elements, some violence and language.
Runtime: 1 hr 58 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Mar 9, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $3,178,843
Synopsis: The videotaped will of deceased billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) includes the "ultimate gift" for his spoiled, sullen grandson Jason (Drew Fuller). A series of tasks meant to turn Jason from... The videotaped will of deceased billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) includes the "ultimate gift" for his spoiled, sullen grandson Jason (Drew Fuller). A series of tasks meant to turn Jason from a hedonistic jerk into a compassionate human being is included in the will, but whether that's the gift or there's a fortune at the end of the rainbow is something Jason will just have to wait to find out. First, he's sent to Texas to work on the ranch of one of Red's old pals (Brian Dennehey). Then his trust fund is cut off and he's thrown into the streets where he battles a bum for a park bench and eventually makes friends with a young girl--dying of leukemia--named Emily (Abigail Breslin). There's some romantic bonding with Emily's struggling mom (Ali Hills) and danger down in Costa Rica, where Jason winds up hostage to some drug-running thugs. Bill Cobbs and Lee Meriwether are the lawyers who monitor Jason's progress. This is a nice little movie, with a straightforward spiritual agenda. But it gets everything right, with minimum sermonizing and maximum heart. The cast is clearly into the spirit of the matter: Abigail Breslin (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) radiates oddball charm, and the eyes of old pros Garner, Denehey, Meriwether, and Cobbs are alight with compassion and nobility. [More]
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin
Starring: Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin, Brian Dennehy, Bill Cobbs, Lee Meriwhether
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Director: Michael O. Sajbel
Screenwriter: Cheryl McKay
Producer: Rick Eldridge, John Shepherd
Composer: Mark McKenzie
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for The Ultimate Gift
I think urban sophisticates can be people of faith who want to see movies, occasionally, that don’t have the four-letter words, and I do embrace religion, but I think they have to be better than this.
Christian charity, in this movie, seems like a side-effect of capitalism.
The Ultimate Gift is kind of like a feel-good Saw for churchgoers, minus the sadistic games of death.
Reeking of self-righteousness and moral reprimand, The Ultimate Gift is a hairball of good-for-you filmmaking.
Has a mercifully light hand in selling its Christian-values themes, but its plodding story about a spoiled young scion who must complete 12 tasks assigned him by his late grandfather is still a slog.
The Ultimate Gift is less a theatrical feature than a Sunday night made-for-TV movie brought to you by Hallmark. That sounds crueler than it is: The movie, directed by Michael O. Sajbel, has plenty of charm.
The predictabilities of the story line might be forgivable if they had been rendered more entertainingly, but the overlong proceedings have been staged in an utterly pedestrian fashion.
It soft-pedals its religious elements -- discussions of faith and God are fleeting, almost subliminal -- without stinting on the celebration of wholesome family values.
There's an anti-abortion message jammed into one scene with all the subtlety of an avalanche. Just in case you miss it, it's repeated in the credits too. Some gift, eh?
The film's values are fairly well encoded into the story, such that it feels less like a sermon and more like a film with a good, if somewhat sappy, heart.
Director Michael O. Sajbel too often succumbs to movie-of-the-week sentimentality and starchy pacing.
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