DVD Release Date:  August 21, 2007
Theatrical Release Date:  March 9, 2007
Rating:  PG (for thematic elements, some violence and language)
Genre:  Drama
Run Time: 117 min.
Director:  Michael O. Sajbel
Actors:  Drew Fuller, James Garner, Ali Hillis, Abigail Breslin, Lee Meriwether, Brian Dennehy, Mircea Monroe, Donna Cherry, D. David Morin

What matters most in life?  And what happens when we don’t appreciate the many gifts that life offers?  These are the questions posed by The Ultimate Gift.

Jason Stevens (Drew Fuller, TV’s Charmed) is a bad-boy playboy with a churlish attitude.  The grandson of billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner), he’s never wanted for anything.  Penthouse apartment, motorcycles, cars and credit cards without spending limits – they’ve all been his, without any effort (or job.)  And don’t forget the beautiful girls.  But they’re all just as mindless as the next, and Jason is bored, bored, bored.

When Red dies, Jason doesn’t expect to receive much.  He’s been estranged from his grandfather ever since his father died, when he was a boy.  At the reading of the will, however, Jason receives a huge surprise.  Red's lawyer, Ted Hamilton (Bill Cobbs) and his assistant, Miss Hastings (Lee Meriwether), inform him that if he is willing to undergo a series of challenges set forth by Red in his will, he will eventually receive “the ultimate gift.”  His grandfather’s employees are vague as to what this gift actually is – and even more silent when it comes to these obstacles.  Jason, it seems, will have to take them as they come.

At first he resists, but soon his curiosity leads him to accept the first challenge, or “gift,” as Red prefers to call them, in the series of video clips he’s left.  So Jason boards a plane for Houston – in economy class, of all things – and finds himself on a farm with one of his grandfather’s friends.  After a battle of the wills, Jason realizes that he must either spend the next month building a mile-long fence or lose the challenge.  He gives in, completes the task and returns home, proud of his efforts but still surly.  That’s when he discovers that all of his money has been cut off.

Homeless and without a vehicle, cash or credit card, Jason begs his mother for help.  But like all of his other relatives, she’s been warned to stay away, lest she lose her inheritance.  Soon, Jason discovers that he’s out of friends as well.  Apparently they’re not nearly as supportive when Jason can’t pick up the bill.  But, never fear, because that’s the next challenge – to find a true friend.  Easier said than done, though, especially when you’re sleeping on a park bench.