This simple, profound movie can help change your heart. Without using anything crass, it gives you a message that is gritty and real. Life is about love. You will weep, laugh, and rejoice to see this movie, if your heart and mind are open and not clouded and cluttered by the trash of the overly secular world. The journey the hero takes is one that tests his mettle and often you feel like giving up on him, but seeing how it comes out shows you that prodigals do make it home. I read that this will be Mr. Garner's last film, I do hope that such is not the case, however if it is, then he has gone out on a high note that is a fine cap to his career. I have not read the book, yet I am sure that this is one of the better adaptions of a book to movie. Christian films get a bad rap as being too bland. Many of them are, but not the Ultimate Gift. It is a gift, from the film maker to you, the audience. I hope that seeing this will inspire others to live out the gift and that we see more such movies being made.