The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
Best2012Vote-1000x50

The Ultimate Gift

Pretty hoky stuff
By TOM MEEK  |  March 14, 2007
2.0 2.0 Stars
070316_INSIDE_GIFT
THE HEART OF THE SERMON: Abigail Breslin's performance is on tap.
Stingy are the rich, as we know from Ebenezer Scrooge and even Bill Gates before he became a crusading philanthropist. Same thing here in this maudlin life lesson with Christian overtones. Jason (a generic Drew Fuller), the slacker grandson of late oil tycoon Red Stevens (James Garner), has a shot at the patriarch’s billions if he can pass a few tests. (His mother and his uncles get passed over because they’re ne’er-do-wells.) The “gifts” include physical labor, homelessness, friendlessness, and fighting druglords in Ecuador — pretty hoky stuff made hokier by director Michael O. Sajbel’s shaky hand. The good news is that Little Miss Sunshine, Abigail Breslin, is on tap as the spunky girl afflicted with leukemia whom Jason befriends. He also falls for her Jennifer Aniston knockoff of a mom (Ali Hillis). You can’t argue with the heart of the sermon (based on Jim Stovall’s “inspirational” novel), but still, how did the venerated Red raise such a phalanx of avaricious assholes to begin with?
Related: Definitely, Maybe, Defending the universally loathed, Crossword: 'Not so great', More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/17 ]   "Guys, Gals, and Glitter"  @ Club Café
ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING  |  January 24, 2012
    The Underworld series got long in the tooth early, but here, in the fourth installment (directed by Swede Måns Mårlind), it grows new fangs.
  •   REVIEW: JOYFUL NOISE  |  January 10, 2012
    There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
  •   REVIEW: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY  |  January 05, 2012
    Jolie has loosely reworked the story of Romeo and Juliet in an infamous setting familiar from CNN but here seen from the inside.
  •   REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED  |  December 13, 2011
    For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.
  •   REVIEW: TRESPASS  |  October 13, 2011
    If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.

 See all articles by: TOM MEEK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed