I regularly attend the $5-a-sermon Church of AMC, much to my wife's and kid's consternation. Well today I definitely got my money's worth. I saw the first Sunday showing of "The Ultimate Gift" at my local AMC here in Northern Virginia and I enjoyed it immensely. It's a great story with a wonderful cast. Big thanks to Fox Faith for getting it to the multiplex.<br /><br />This is an engaging and highly watchable film. In a matter of minutes I was completely immersed in the plot and invested in the characters of the story. While a few where caricatures, I could relate to most of them as "real" people with real problems and blessings.<br /><br />As I was watching Jason learn from the "gifts" that his grandfather was giving him, I couldn't help but think of my own father, who is wise and gentle and generous and loving. I'm lucky that he gave me some of these gifts in real life instead of from beyond the grave.<br /><br />All of the performances in this film were rock solid. Big thumbs up to the casting director. Drew Fuller was superb as someone you want to hate but end up liking. The beautiful Ali Hillis also delivered an excellent performance. (I expect that her agent will be getting more than a few calls over the next few weeks). Abigail Breslin's performance was likewise outstanding (we already know that her agent's phone is ringing off the hook).<br /><br />I encourage anyone taking the time to read my comments to seek out this film. It's really good. If you have kids, say 8 or years old and up, you should consider taking them to this movie for the lesson it teaches in a highly entertaining way. (Younger kids will probably be bored).<br /><br />One more thing - this film may not last long on the big screen. I was in a 100 person auditorium with 2 other people this morning, which is kind of sad. I think Fox should have put a little bit more into the publicity machine on this one. I also noted that my local AMC didn't have it on the big board of show times at the box office, which I found odd. Perhaps they were trying to "kill" the movie in its first week due to low sales by purposely keeping it off the marquee. If so, that's really a shame because this is quite a nice little film that deserves an audience.<br /><br />cheers,<br /><br />Snake