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The Ultimate Gift

Drew Fuller stars as Jason Stevens – a Paris Hilton-like trust fund kid living the vacant life of the over-privileged (hopefully, he videotapes less of his life than Paris).  When his grandfather, Red (James Garner), dies, the rest of the family, along with Jason, is left wondering how much of the old man’s gazillions each will be getting.  As Red’s ungrateful sons and daughter are left what they believe to be miniscule inheritances (and plan on taking legal action to get what they feel they deserve), Jason alone is told he will receive The Ultimate Gift if he can overcome a series of challenges designed to teach him something about life, and the gifts it has for us. 

Will Jason be able to overcome the challenges?  Will he learn to be a better man?

The Ultimate Gift is the ultimate morality play sometimes diving into melodrama filled with over-acting, while also providing some real emotional moments that filmgoers should be willing to seek out.  While the movie is supposed to show us each of the twelve gifts of life Jason is to receive along the way during this epic journey, director Michael Sajbel and writer Cheryl McKay (based on the novel by Jim Stovall) don’t make it clear what all of the gifts are until the end credits.  Since this is supposed to be the defining structure of the movie (and an aspect the audience can embrace), the end credits is a bit late to learn all of the gifts, don’t you think?  Some gifts are obvious, while others will be better known to people who have read the book.  However, while Sajbel might lose track of the gifts (something I hope Santa Claus never does), he does deliver some emotional moments that get the viewer interested and invested in the movie, especially the scenes with Oscar nominee and scene stealer Abigail Breslin.

After starting off with some cartoonish greedy characters and an opening funeral scene that makes you gag at how hokey, forced and cliché it is, The Ultimate Gift is at its best as Jason meets Alexia (Ali Hillis) and her young, precocious, cute daughter Emily (Breslin).  Sajbel is able to make the film’s funniest and most heart wrenching moments revolve around this unlikely friendship that has a clear sense of emotional heartbreak lurking in the background, so much so that they should just hand out boxes of tissues as you get your ticket and popcorn.  Breslin is the best part of the movie, but Stevens gets better as The Ultimate Gift progresses, since he gets to play a real character towards the end instead of the cartoon character he is at the beginning.

The Ultimate Gift has a decent message and enough high points (interaction with Alexia and Emily as well as Jason’s change in how he views life) to outweigh the bad (like scenes with the Stevens family or Jason’s trip to a foreign country in the middle of the movie).  Please be aware that The Ultimate Gift is more appropriate for teens and adults, so it rated PG.

2 ½ Waffles (Out Of 4)        

The Ultimate Gift is rated PG for themes, language and some violence. 

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