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The Ultimate Gift

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The Ultimate Gift (2007)

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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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Release:

Mar 17, 2009

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Reviews for The Ultimate Gift

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1 - 13 (sorted by date)
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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.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
08/22/07
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post
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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.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
03/20/07
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Christian charity, in this movie, seems like a side-effect of capitalism.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
03/17/07
Boston Globe
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The Ultimate Gift is kind of like a feel-good Saw for churchgoers, minus the sadistic games of death.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
03/14/07
Gregory Kirschling
Gregory Kirschling
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Reeking of self-righteousness and moral reprimand, The Ultimate Gift is a hairball of good-for-you filmmaking.

comment Comment
03/09/07
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
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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.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
03/09/07
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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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.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
03/09/07
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post
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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.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
03/09/07
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter
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It soft-pedals its religious elements -- discussions of faith and God are fleeting, almost subliminal -- without stinting on the celebration of wholesome family values.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/08/07
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
Variety
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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?

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment 1 Comment
03/08/07
Lou Carlozo
Lou Carlozo
Chicago Tribune
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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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
03/08/07
Mark Olsen
Mark Olsen
Los Angeles Times
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Director Michael O. Sajbel too often succumbs to movie-of-the-week sentimentality and starchy pacing.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
03/08/07
Ann Hornaday
Ann Hornaday
Washington Post
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Well-meant, but impossibly obvious.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
03/08/07
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
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