‘Gifted’ pulls at heartstrings
Mary isn’t quite like her fellow first-graders on the opening day of school. While the others struggle with 2 + 2 = 4, she does higher math at a high school level — in her head.
Bachelor Uncle Frank (Chris Evans) is well aware that he’s raising a child prodigy — the mouthy little daughter of his late sister — but he’s determined to keep her life as normal and tranquil as possible in their Florida coastal town, refusing to put her in a school for the gifted. But his redoubtable mom, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), Mary’s grandmother, wants to cultivate her phenomenal abilities in ’round-the-clock training to become the rock star mathematician of her generation.
The resulting legal-psychological custody battle between a soulful poor uncle and an imperious rich grandma is the melodramatic stuff of “Gifted.” We learn that Mary (Mckenna Grace) came by her skills honestly, from mother and grandmother alike. Soon enough, she’s solving multiple algorithms and “Millennium Problem” conjectures at the post-graduate level, even as her elementary teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) conjectures something more than an elementary relationship with her uncle.
Director Marc Webb, in his first (non-“Spiderman”) feature since the wonderful “500 Days of Summer” (2009), shamelessly tugs at our heartstrings from start to finish. Mary’s one-eyed cat Fred elicits “Awww!” every time he appears. In the film’s loveliest scene, demonstrating the closeness between niece and uncle, she rides on his shoulders as a remarkably lit and photographed giant sunset fills the sky behind them.
Writer Tom Flynn’s fairly predictable script is blessed by the outstanding performance of little 10year-old Miss Grace, with her great luxurious eyelashes and missing front teeth and obvious bonding with low-key Mr. Evans. Their charming chemistry keeps the story boat afloat even when it drifts off course, while keeping his relationship with mother Duncan interesting, as well. Octavia Spencer as Frank’s and Mary’s landlady/best friend does her part nicely, too.
The courtroom scene with Mary's biological father? The foster home? The cat up for adoption or euthanization? Oy, veh. But never mind.
Despite its lack of sophistication or originality and its “Kramer vs. Kramer” commercial roots, “Gifted” rises above cynical expectations — emotionally manipulative yet funny and moving.
How can you resist a movie whose adorably toothless 10-year-old protagonist and her one-eyed cat are both threatened with abandonment?
Well, you can. But not likely with “Gifted.”