When his wealthy grandfather finally dies, Jason Stevens fully expects to benefit when it comes to the reading of the will. But instead of a sizable inheritance, Jason receives a test, a series of tasks he must complete before he can get any money.
The Ultimate Gift is kind of like a feel-good Saw for churchgoers, minus the sadistic games of death.
– Gregory Kirschling,
Entertainment Weekly,
14 Mar 2007
fresh:
[James] Garner is good, and so is Brian Dennehy as a crusty ranch owner; Abigail Breslin, playing a leukemia patient, demonstrates that she was not a one-note wonder in Little Miss Sunshine.
– Peter Rainer,
Christian Science Monitor,
15 Mar 2007
rotten:
If you missed the money-isn't-everything message, an end-credits recap outlines the story's salient points -- if you'd known, you could've skipped the rest.
– Erin Clements,
Time Out New York,
17 Mar 2007
rotten:
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.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
20 Mar 2007
rotten:
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.