The Ultimate Gift
Overall Score


Opened in Theatres March 2007
by Fox Faith Films
Starring Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin

Story : (from website)
Life is how you live it...not how you spend it.
When his wealthy grandfather dies, trust fund baby Jason Stevens anticipates a big inheritance. Instead, his grandfather has devised a crash course on life: twelve tasks (or "gifts") designed to challenge Jason in inprobable ways, sending him on a journey of self-discovery and forcing him to determine what is most important in life: money or happiness.

Technical Info:
scenes involving alcohol, low-cut blouses on some characters, guns, minor violence

Angela's Take:
This film is about a spoiled rotten rich young man, who is changed by different challenges he faces that are arranged by his late grandfather. Even though it has many humoruos points, it is a drama that leaves you weepy still at the end.
I have to say that even though this film was marketed as a "Christian" or "Faith-Based" film, I view it as secular. I haven't seen anything truly redemptive in any films released by Fox Faith, and while I may yet be surprised by one, I don't expect to be. All I can say is at least they are making pretty clean movies with some reference to God, and yes, they do actually say "Jesus" in this movie without profaning His Name. However, that is one of the two strikes against the film. The first is that while the story is very touching and heartwarming, it is focused on the importance of FAMILY and PEOPLE. While this is good, the main focus should always be on Jesus, and THEN family and people. The script seemed to just throw in a few references to "God, Jesus, and church" just so a "Christian" label could be applied. The largest three areas that had any mention of Christianity were a funeral scene in which the Bible was mentioned, as in most funeral scenes, two people sitting in a hospital chapel where the main character says something about not knowing much about "God or Jesus" (the one mention of Jesus), and then at the end in talking about needing a church or chapel for the hospital. All superficial, shallow and meaningless talk without any explanations or further investigation, which a Christian would normally naturally expound on at least somewhat! The other point that disturbed me was the costume choices for the two "promiscuous" women. In my opinion, anyone who says that they have to include profanity or sexuality in order to be realistic has either no imagination or they are just making excuses to do what they really want to do. In this case, the revealing clothing of the two women was completely unnecessary and too frequent. The Bible says that if we cause our brother to sin then we are guilty too, and to me, while not all people are going to have problems, even if this tempts just one young (or old) person, it is wrong. I also believe we are to be modest, and yes, you can be trendy and "cool" while still being modest.
So, other than those issues, and looking at is as a secular and very good made-for-tv movie, it is an entertaining film with a few objectionable parts, still much cleaner than many television commercials.

Melanie from Oak Park :
"Wonder movie especially in the age of "gimmee" children!"

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The Ultimate Gift

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