|
Each
time I sit down to write a column, I have to face a conflict within
myself. The screenwriter in me wants to champion the movie, but the
novelist in me wants to champion the book. At the very least, this
gives me a unique perspective of each month’s selection. But it can
also make it almost impossible to choose a favorite. This month, that
is definitely the case.
 In anticipation of the Christmas
holiday, I chose the book The Ultimate Gift by Jim
Stovall and the movie of the same name, its screenplay written by
Cheryl McKay.
I originally saw this movie in
the fall of 2007. That was long before I was doing reviews or writing
this column. But the movie made such an impression on me that when I
began to write reviews, this one was at the top of my list. Over the
past two years, I’ve bought three copies of the movie, two of which I
gave away. Finally, this fall, I sat down and read the book. It was a
lovely story that I easily read in two evenings’ time.
In Stovall’s book, Jason Stevens
is the great-nephew of multibillionaire Red Stevens. When Red dies, the
family descends on the reading of the will like a flock of ravenous
vultures. Each self-centered, self-serving family member receives their
inheritance and walks away ungrateful. Finally, only one family member
is left: the angry, rebellious, and disrespectful twenty-four-year-old
Jason, who just wants a big, fat check. But what he is offered is
priceless.
Red Stevens loves his insolent
great-nephew too much just to give him a check. Instead, he creates a
twelve-month project that Jason must do to earn his inheritance. He
calls this project “The Ultimate Gift.” Month by month, Jason must
complete each task to the satisfaction of Red’s lawyer and oldest
friend, Ted Hamilton. If at any point Jason quits or doesn’t meet Mr.
Hamilton’s approval, he will not receive The Ultimate Gift. Will Jason
take the journey? Will he succeed? And most important, will he learn
anything?
Jim Stovall writes a moving
story with strong characters. I can’t personally identify with Jason
and I didn’t initially find him an appealing person, yet I still find
myself pulling for him because of Red’s love for him. And though I
don’t want to, I can see bits of myself in Jason. As I see Jason
changing, I am also challenged to change. To me, that’s the hallmark of
the best kind of story.
As I watched the movie, I was so
impressed by the screenplay that one word immediately came to mind: superb.
Cheryl McKay and director Michael Sajbel did an outstanding job on the
movie adaptation of Stovall’s story. McKay took the solid foundation of
story and characters that Stovall had built and made it all come to
life.
My
one reservation with the novel was that because the lawyer, Ted
Hamilton, is narrating, we don’t get to see Jason complete his tasks or
learn his lessons. But the screenplay is written from a broader
perspective. We see Ted’s side of the story, but more of the focus is
on Jason. We get to see Jason completing the tasks instead of only
having Ted tell us what Jason had experienced.
|
Normally,
when a screenwriter
makes significant changes to a story, I find that to be distracting and
unnecessary. It is usually a turn-off for me and often keeps me from
enjoying the movie. McKay made markedly significant changes, but I
found them to be completely forgivable and not distracting at all. The
changes make sense. For example, in her version, Jason was Red’s
grandson instead of his great-nephew. As I read the book, I had a bit
of trouble believing that a great-uncle would take such a vested
interest in a great-nephew, but once McKay had made that change in the
screenplay, the lengths that Red went to with The Ultimate Gift became
completely understandable.
The most noticeable change that
McKay made in her screenplay was adding a storyline. She took two minor
characters from the book and made them pivotal to the plot. In the
book, there are only a couple of brief mentions about Emily, a little
girl with leukemia, and her mother, Alexia. However, in the movie,
Emily and Alexia are a major catalyst for the change in Jason. As the
movie unfolded, I found Emily and Alexia to be exactly the kind of
truth-tellers and accountability partners that Jason needed. In the
book, I had found his changes to be a bit forced and unrealistic, but
by adding depth to Jason’s relationships with Emily and Alexia, McKay
utilized Stovall’s own characters to make his story more believable.
The casting in this movie is
amazing. Red Stevens and Ted Hamilton are played by veteran actors
James Garner and Bill Cobbs, respectively. Lee Meriwether plays
Hamilton’s assistant, Miss Hastings, and Brian Dennehy joins the cast
as Gus. We also have a trio of relative newcomers: Drew Fuller as
Jason, Ali Hillis as Alexia, and Abigail Breslin as the adorable and
audacious Emily. I am not a viewer who is typically impressed by names;
however, I can’t imagine a more perfect cast for this movie. The
veteran actors were each remarkable in their roles and the newcomers
were just as remarkable. They each portrayed their character
flawlessly, each one moving me to tears throughout the course of the
picture.
This Christmas, I would suggest
reading the book to your children and watching the movie as a family.
The messages of both are timeless and have the potential to change
hearts and lives. To borrow a Malcolm Muggeridge quote from the movie,
“Every happening, great or small, is a parable by which God speaks to
us, and the art of life is to get the message.”
Merry Christmas and Happy
Holidays to you and your loved ones.
|
