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The Giver

PG-13 Released Aug 15, 2014 1h 37m Drama Action Sci-Fi List
35% Tomatometer 171 Reviews 55% Popcornmeter 50,000+ Ratings
Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) lives in a seemingly idyllic world of conformity and contentment. When he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), an old man who is the sole keeper of the community's memories, Jonas discovers the dangerous truths of his community's secret past. Armed with the power of knowledge, Jonas realizes that he must escape from their world to protect himself and those he loves -- a challenge no one has ever completed successfully.
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Critics Consensus

Phillip Noyce directs The Giver with visual grace, but the movie doesn't dig deep enough into the classic source material's thought-provoking ideas.

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Critics Reviews

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Riese Bernard Autostraddle Taylor Swift showed up as a piano-playing hologram with a bad wig and it officially became a comedy. Aug 13, 2021 Full Review David Sims The Atlantic Noyce tries to thread the needle by hewing close to his source material while peppering in some grander-scale sci-fi business to keep things moving. It doesn't remotely work. Sep 22, 2016 Full Review David Ehrlich Complex The fatal irony at the heart of The Giver is too hilariously blatant to ignore: here is a dystopian teen drama about the perils of sameness that feels exactly like all of the other movies in its increasingly crowded genre. Rated: 1.5/5 Sep 27, 2014 Full Review JD Duran InSession Film The Giver is a studios way of pandering to the dystopian teen drama crowd... Rated: C+ Aug 19, 2024 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review As both an adaptation and a stand-alone film, The Giver is something of a mess. Rated: 1.5/4 Aug 5, 2022 Full Review Cory Woodroof Lumination Network Noyce and company have made a reverent film that both honors its beloved beginnings and provides audiences with a thoughtful piece of family entertainment. Feb 11, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Mason M I usually don't do ratings this low, but I have a particular hatred for this film. It's a bad film in the first place, but it's also such a disservice to the book. The book is so amazingly done and written and this movie just takes everything that was good about the book, and just gets rid of it for some reason. The result is a quite dumb movie, without much of a purpose. I would love to see a well made adaption of The Giver, and this is not it. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/12/24 Full Review Jayne H i have watched many films over my 61 years, and this one i resonated with. absolutely wonderful ❤️ Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/02/24 Full Review Austin S Good adaption of the book with enough differences. I do prefer the book though. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/11/24 Full Review Ken A This movie was amazing! Loved the book and I also loved the movie *shocker* Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/15/24 Full Review Anna L The giver? GIVER MY BUTTHOLE. I unfortunately have to put half a star because it doesn't give me the option to put ZERO!!! this movie gave my turtle a tumor and I'll never get over this horrible movie because what even was that??? obviously i didn't watch all of it. I watched about 30 minutes of it and it felt way longer than that anyways! never watch this. It made me loose my marbles and my 55 friends threw up everywhere. Disgusting. My clothes are ruined. The book was good though, i like the book. Dont know how these people were able to mess up so badly, think about that. Id rather skin myself alive than watch this again. Especially since I found out Taylor swift was in it. I would like to keep my ear drums thanks. The movie was so flavourless. The only thing it would be good for is to sleep to. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 06/18/24 Full Review Aj B I think it’s very good just takes a while to pick up I suggest reading the book first like I did because the book and movie end very differently Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/22/24 Full Review Read all reviews
The Giver

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) lives in a seemingly idyllic world of conformity and contentment. When he begins to spend time with The Giver (Jeff Bridges), an old man who is the sole keeper of the community's memories, Jonas discovers the dangerous truths of his community's secret past. Armed with the power of knowledge, Jonas realizes that he must escape from their world to protect himself and those he loves -- a challenge no one has ever completed successfully.
Director
Phillip Noyce
Producer
Nikki Silver, Jeff Bridges, Neil Koenigsberg
Screenwriter
Michael Mitnick, Robert B. Weide
Distributor
Weinstein Co.
Production Co
Tonik, As Is Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Sci-Fi Action and Violence|A Mature Thematic Image)
Genre
Drama, Action, Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 15, 2014, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 14, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$45.1M
Runtime
1h 37m
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