7.3 stars.
'The Ultimate Gift' is a film that could meet your expectations for being inspiring and uplifting and touching, but for me it was just another film in a long line trying to teach the audience about selflessness and sacrifice. If this is based on a true story, I'm eating it up, but since it appears to be fictitious, it doesn't approach its true potential.
The premise is intriguing, of a young man who must go through a bunch of challenges and trials in order to possibly receive his inheritance, sort of a quid pro quo. The presentation, the package delivered to the viewer is more like a bait and switch. We are not rewarded for sitting through the story, rather we are left with unanswered questions in the producer's and author's attempts to sway our emotions. Why do these tragedies happen? If there is a purpose for them and we are to learn a lesson, what is the lesson? We learned nothing about humility or sacrifice or love. We learn that a young man decides to be generous after he is given great gifts. But where is the sacrifice? There is none. Sacrifice is giving up something you desperately feel you cannot live without, is it not? Where is the desire for riches, the need for wealth? We don't see any avarice or greed being transformed into charity and selfless love, rather we see a man who is angry and frustrated (not particularly well acted by the way) and he suddenly decides to be good. He is formerly a playboy, lives the high life, cares not what people think, but we don't get to witness any of this. The first we see him, he's simply a disgruntled and impatient young man. There is no sense of necessity or loss, we don't experience any of the pain that would be involved in this process. The actors don't provide us with the raw emotion. I guess I'm left a bit flat with the performances. So many reviewers are saying the acting was great, or this, or that. I feel the story is good, the film production is average, but the acting is sub-par (mainly from the lead male). There's a reason the lead actor is not cast in the sequels.
'The Ultimate Gift' is a film that could meet your expectations for being inspiring and uplifting and touching, but for me it was just another film in a long line trying to teach the audience about selflessness and sacrifice. If this is based on a true story, I'm eating it up, but since it appears to be fictitious, it doesn't approach its true potential.
The premise is intriguing, of a young man who must go through a bunch of challenges and trials in order to possibly receive his inheritance, sort of a quid pro quo. The presentation, the package delivered to the viewer is more like a bait and switch. We are not rewarded for sitting through the story, rather we are left with unanswered questions in the producer's and author's attempts to sway our emotions. Why do these tragedies happen? If there is a purpose for them and we are to learn a lesson, what is the lesson? We learned nothing about humility or sacrifice or love. We learn that a young man decides to be generous after he is given great gifts. But where is the sacrifice? There is none. Sacrifice is giving up something you desperately feel you cannot live without, is it not? Where is the desire for riches, the need for wealth? We don't see any avarice or greed being transformed into charity and selfless love, rather we see a man who is angry and frustrated (not particularly well acted by the way) and he suddenly decides to be good. He is formerly a playboy, lives the high life, cares not what people think, but we don't get to witness any of this. The first we see him, he's simply a disgruntled and impatient young man. There is no sense of necessity or loss, we don't experience any of the pain that would be involved in this process. The actors don't provide us with the raw emotion. I guess I'm left a bit flat with the performances. So many reviewers are saying the acting was great, or this, or that. I feel the story is good, the film production is average, but the acting is sub-par (mainly from the lead male). There's a reason the lead actor is not cast in the sequels.