Title: The Ultimate Gift.
Starring: Drew Fuller {Jason Stevens}, James Garner {Howard "Red" Stevens}, Abigail Breslin {Emily Rose}, Ali Hillis {Alexia}, Bill Cobbs {Thesphilus Hamilton}, Lee Meriwether {Miss Hastings}.
Year of Release: 2006.
Gene: Drama.
Plot: When his grandfather dies, a "disillusioned" young man gets the reality check of his life: Jason Stevens has grown up hating his wealthy grandfather, blaming him for his father's tragic death in a plane-crash. When the will is read and the inheritance divvied up among Jason's colorful family members, he thinks he's being cheated when he isn't handed a big check and sent on his way. Apparently, his grandfather isn't finished with him yet and has one more surprise up his sleeve for his angry descendant. The deal: Jason must agree to undertake a series of monthly challenges or gifts, as his grandfather called them, in order to prove himself worthy to receive his inheritance.
Of course, Jason is none too thrilled with that arrangement. For the first gift, the wealthy hothead is shipped off to a ranch in the middle of nowhere in Texas, handed a pair of gloves, and told to drive posts and string up a fence. Still feeling very frustrated and having absolutely no clue what he's doing, Jason does a sloppy job at first, then he begins to get the hang of it and does a splendid job. Still confused over what's going on with the whole gift thing, Jason is sent back to the big city after a month's time where he must undergo the gift of friends. Everything he possesses is taken away from him and Jason is told to go find at least one good friend by the end of the month. Jason meets a young woman and her opinionated daughter Emily at the park one day, when he's despairing of finding any loyal friends. He befriends the duo and inadvertently walks into a heart-wrenching and hopeless situation with two girls on his hands to comfort, cheer, and fall in love with.
Progressing through his monthly challenges, Jason begins to display a change of attitude and character to those around him and those who knew him before are astonished and somewhat confused that the bad-boy of the family is suddenly humble and kind, even thoughtful and genuinely cheerful. But he still has one more gift to get through, and this will be the hardest of them all as he sets out to learn the truth of his father's death.
Likes/Dislikes: Aside from bad attitudes on Jason and Emily's part when first introduced, a scene in which a man is beaten off camera by South American bad guys, and a tragedy near the end, this is a very good, clean movie. Emily and her mother are Christians and in one scene Emily talks with Jason about God and asks if he knows Him {which astounds Jason of course}. All in all, I highly recommend this for family viewing; it's well on it's way to becoming a classic.
Rating: I don't remember the actual rating but my personal rating is PG-10 and up. Enjoy! ;)
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