The Giver

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The Giver

PG-13

2014

1h 37m

Drama

Action

Sci-Fi

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Popcornmeter

34%

Tomatometer

167 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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Riese Bernard

Autostraddle

08/13/2021

Taylor Swift showed up as a piano-playing hologram with a bad wig and it officially became a comedy.

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David Sims

The Atlantic

09/22/2016

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.

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David Ehrlich

Complex

09/27/2014

1.5/5

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.

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JD Duran

InSession Film

08/19/2024

C+

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

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

08/05/2022

1.5/4

As both an adaptation and a stand-alone film, The Giver is something of a mess.

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Cory Woodroof

Lumination Network

02/11/2022

Noyce and company have made a reverent film that both honors its beloved beginnings and provides audiences with a thoughtful piece of family entertainment.

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Matthew G

@MovieeHaTer Mar 4

This movie is the honest definition of crap. I mean I get it, you have to change the movie from the book but this is just insane. I mean half the time I’m thinking this isn’t even the god damn giver this is just something completely different. All the people who are saying "oh wow! This movie is so good and people undervalue this book to much". You know what i say to that! People don’t undervalue this movie enough!!! To be completely honest, a damn kindergartener could have written a better storyline. Like did the director and the writers even read the book or what?!? I’m really disappointed that there isn’t an option to give zero stars because if there was, I would choose that.

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Chapman S.

@ScreamKing13 Feb 20

I have been reading the book, and I have to say it’s pretty similar. Though it was a little rushed I feel like, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

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Malakide M

@Xerox Jan 26

This movie was so unlike the book that I, as a sixteen year old, had to write a review commenting on just how rubbish and utterly disappointing this movie was. I would actually rather watch paint dry then have to watch this disgusting slop again. If I was held hostage and forced to watch this movie I would beg for the release of death.

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Alex P.

@FreelyCheesy Jan 15

The Giver was a really good movie adapted from the book. I enjoyed the book a lot. though at times it seemed a bit boring. Overall, it was a good movie, and I loved the ending. The giver (2014) - Alex P. (2024)

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Ezra H.

@ezra67 Jan 4

This movie is not good. Tho book is actually pretty good and I like the idea of the book becoming a movie however tge visuals aren’t great and it’s just not accurate to the book and the pacing is very off especially at the start and overall just not entertaining. They ran everything that came from the book through the mud.

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Alex L

@JameJamal Dec 17

Jesus Christ this movie was horrible, If you've seen the book you know its pretty good right? well this movie takes all of that, shits on it and then throws it out the window, This movie goes into no depth about the world, the characters, or anything like that, it has way too fast of pacing and the plot makes no sense, it fully skips the first 10 chapters of world building and character development while fully changing unnessecary things and important plot points. Please spare your eyes and mind the torture of this shitty movie and please don't watch it.

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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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