The plot is driven by the custody battle between Frank and Evelyn. Evelyn believes that letting Mary “act her age” would be a tragic waste.Īside from some fun in watching Mary solving math problems like a human calculator, Gifted isn’t terribly concerned with her abilities. Attempts to enroll Mary in a special school are met with resistance from Frank, leading to intervention by Mary’s maternal grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan). Complications arise after Frank enrolls Mary in a public school, where teacher Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate) quickly realizes that this girl is one in a million.
Frank has compromised his own career as a professor of philosophy in order to carry out his late sister’s wishes that Mary not be subjected to the rigors of life in a think tank. It’s also saddled with some woefully underdeveloped (offensively so, in one case) supporting characters.įrank (Evans) has been doing his best to give Mary (Mckenna Grace) a “normal” upbringing following the death of her mother, who was a genius mathematician. Director Marc Webb ( The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2) laces Gifted with many crowd-pleasing elements, but his film eventually fizzles into courtroom-based hokum.
It’s a variation on Jodie Foster’s 1991 directorial debut Little Man Tate, with both films examining the challenges of raising a child who is far more advanced than most adults, let alone their peers. Want to see Chris Evans playing a totally different kind of hero? Gifted finds the Captain America star playing guardian to a young girl (his niece) who has extraordinary intellectual gifts. The Lowdown: Winning performances by Chris Evans, Lindsay Duncan, and Mckenna Grace (plus an adorable one-eyed cat) keep things entertaining, but given the material this should’ve cut deeper.
0 kommentar(er)
