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.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com