Chris Evans plus a solid ‘Gifted’ script equal success
Everybody shows their work in the winning math of Gifted, which finds a simple formula for success with a flawed father figure and his prodigious niece.
Chris Evans swaps Captain America’s shield-slinging for adventures in parenting in director Marc Webb’s heartfelt and uplifting comedy/drama out of four; rated PG-13; in select cities Friday including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia; nationwide April 21). The film is decidedly emotionally manipulative without being cloying, and often finds real humor in the complicated situations that arise around a genius 7-year-old, played by Mckenna Grace.
After being homeschooled by her Uncle Frank (Evans), Mary Adler grudgingly attends first grade in her coastal Florida town. Yet it’s very clear on her first day that this kid is way beyond being asked what 3+3 is — she already has a handle on advanced calculus. Mary’s teacher Miss Stevenson (Jenny Slate) and others point out this obvious fact to Frank, though he’s well aware: The blue-collar boat mechanic became Mary’s guardian after her mathematician mom died, and he believes raising her as a normal child is what his sister would have wanted.
Tom Flynn’s script is filled with great lines for Mary. (Wearing one cute red dress, she bemoans, “I look like a Disney character.”) And the strong chemistry between Grace and Evans allows heavier philosophical conversations to feel natural rather than what you’d see in an unbelievable Hallmark movie. In one beach scene, Frank advises Mary to embrace a kind of compassion “like a cat can have for a sandpiper.”
However, legal dramatics somewhat derail the plot when Mary’s haughty British grandmother (Lindsay Duncan) shows up and challenges Frank to a custody battle, and bigger themes of nature vs. nurture and familial responsibility are buried by some of the film’s fluffier aspects. There’s also not enough of Octavia Spencer as Frank’s feisty neighbor and Mary’s de facto maternal friend/karaoke partner.
After having made two middling Amazing Spider-Man films, Webb is much more confident and appealing with an intimate movie such as 500 Days of Summer and Gifted. And he treats his characters with a healthy mix of respect and reality: Sure, Frank is going to go on a wild goose chase for their lost one-eyed feline and share a surprisingly emotional moment with his mom after a bitter day in court, because life is like that when it comes to pets and family, and Webb excels as a filmmaker with those details.
Evans also is no stranger to the superhero genre, and what’s often overlooked in the grand scale of his Avengers and Captain America movies is that he’s actually a pretty good actor. He exudes that usual charisma in Gifted but lets a vulnerable side show through, too, when Frank sulks about missing out on a typical bachelor’s life (he’s both love interest for Mary’s teacher and the town hunk) while selflessly raising a child. Grace figures as his equal in many of the pair’s best scenes, and thus there’s as much a brother/sister dynamic with the two as father/daughter.
Who knew that it wasn’t a team up with Iron Man or Thor that would bring out Evans’ best, but instead a precocious little girl?