The Giver

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The Giver

PG-13

Released Aug 15, 2014

1h 37m

Drama

Action

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

35%

Tomatometer

169 Reviews

55%

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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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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

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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

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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

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JD Duran

InSession Film

The Giver is a studios way of pandering to the dystopian teen drama crowd...

Rated: C+

Aug 19, 2024

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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

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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

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Daniel T

As a book adaptation, it would score lower. There are way too many differences, the producers and writers took to many liberties and important aspects are lost or seem overlooked. However, the stellar cast and the performances are to my opinion excellent. As an English teacher I tend to use this movie as a comparison with the source material, with the purpose of the students analyzing, comparing, and at times evaluating the adaptation made. So, as a movie adaptation of the book, I consider it regular, but as a vehicle for teaching and learning, I give a much higher rating.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

11/13/24

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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 0.5 out of 5 stars

10/13/24

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Phillip Noyce

Director

Jeff Bridges

The Giver

Meryl Streep

Chief Elder

Brenton Thwaites

Jonas

Alexander Skarsgård

Father

Katie Holmes

Mother

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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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