Like all great gifts, The Ultimate Gift was a surprise. It’s not that I didn’t expect the movie to show up in my mailbox. Jim McCormick, a friend and a partner at wealth management firm Pryor McCormick Investments, had told me he was sending the DVD my way. I agreed to watch it because his firm is sponsoring a free showing of the 2007 film to highlight Magic Moments, a non-profit that grants wishes to Alabama children with life-threatening or life-altering medical conditions. I worried that the film was an overly sentimental Lifetime-esque made-for-TV movie, some kind of new The Purpose Driven Life (a fad that I purposely avoided like the plague), or that it was a pitch to invest with Pryor McCormick, but it wasn’t any of those things.

You can catch The Ultimate Gift for free at the Summit on Sunday, June 28 at 3 p.m.

The surprising thing about the movie is that it’s, well, good. The Ultimate Gift is the story of billionaire Red Stevens (James Garner) and the inheritance he leaves to his estranged grandson Jason (played by Charmed star Drew Fuller). Jason, living by the example set by the rest of his family (aside from Red), is a trust-fund baby and prodigal son-type character. When Red dies, he divides up his assets among the Stevens family but leaves an unenthusiastic Jason a series of 12 “gifts,” or challenges, which might allow Jason a shot at a chunk of Red’s estate. Jason reluctantly pursues the gifts. First, he learns the value of hard work constructing fences on a ranch owned by friend of Red’s (Brian Dennehy). He returns home to find his apartment empty, and he is forced to learn what it means to start with nothing. He is challenged to make a true friend – someone who appreciates him and not his money – and meets a young girl, Emily (played by Little Miss Sunshine starlet Abigail Breslin). Unbeknownst to Jason, Emily is dying of leukemia (cue Magic Moments tie-in). Left with nothing but this friend, Jason is all but forced to continue the challenges, and gradually earns his reward.

McCormick said he was inspired to help Magic Moments last November in a bathroom in a Chicago restaurant. “I looked up on the wall and there was this quote, and I stopped and I read it,” McCormick said. “It said ‘You’ve never lived until you’ve done something for someone who can never repay you.’” Two weeks later, he met with Pam Jones, Executive Director of Magic Moments, and began working with her charity.

McCormick stressed that there will be no pitch for his firm at the film showing, but that, in lieu of previews, he will show a clip about Magic Moments. The showing is free, of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if The Ultimate Gift inspired you to give a gift of your own.

To see The Ultimate Gift, head to the Carmike Summit Theater on Sunday at 3 p.m. Call (205) 939-9372 to reserve a seat. To learn more about Magic Moments visit www.magicmoments.org.