Not to be confused with TV’s “X-Men” series “The Gifted,” “Gifted” made a blip in movie theaters in April (it’s available via Redbox and streaming), but it’s worth checking out for those who enjoy sweet little family dramas with good performances, dashes of humor and beautiful Savannah, Ga., settings as a stand-in for Florida.
“Gifted” marks director Marc Webb’s (“500 Days of Summer”) filmic return to character pieces after a foray into superheroes with two “Spider-Man” pictures. At the heart of the film are Frank (“Captain America’s” Chris Evans) and his 6-year-old niece Mary (Mckenna Grace), who live in a small rental-home complex in the Tampa Bay area. Frank has raised Mary from infancy after she was left at his place when her mom committed suicide.
Tom Flynn makes an assured return to screenwriting; his most recent IMBD credit had been from 2002. “Gifted” always stays one step ahead of contrivance by constantly undercutting it. Mary’s grandmother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), wants to gain custody of Mary. It always bugged me on law shows when family members would take each other to court, and there’s a bit of that here too.
There is so much unstated coldness between Evelyn and Frank that I often had to remind myself that they are mother and son. Before the trial begins, the exasperated judge asks if they’d like to step into the hall and settle things before this starts to cost everyone a lot more money.
“Gifted” might’ve worked better if we had any real sense that Mary would be better off with Evelyn, but as it stands, we root hard for Frank. But legally, wealthy Boston-based former professor Evelyn might have a case, as she can provide Mary with health insurance, whereas boat motor repairman Frank can’t. Why Frank, a former professor himself, chose the simpler life becomes clear from the wider context, although it might’ve been nice to get more details about his decision.
A “step into the hall” agreement might’ve found Evelyn giving Frank money to help raise Mary; however, she has a sinister reason for wanting custody: Mary is a math prodigy (if this were a comic book, math would be her superpower), and Evelyn thinks she can solve a math problem that will mark an advance in physics – the same problem that drove Mary’s mom to suicide.
Such is the insane center of “Gifted,” but it actually works. It’s tempting to emphasize the “Evil” in “Evelyn,” but her character illustrates a fascinating conundrum, because she actually does aim to help humanity with this math solution. The moral wrinkle, of course, is that she has no right to coerce others – first her daughter, now her granddaughter – to join her crusade.
Grace, actually a few years older than her character, is believable as both a math prodigy and a normal 6-year-old who restlessly climbs all over her adoptive father, collects sea shells and plays with Legos. It’s easy to see why Frank has fallen for this daughter he never asked for, and why it means everything to him that she grows up to be a good human being instead of – as he puts it – “a Congressman.” Mary works better than Chloe Grace Moretz’s character in “500 Days of Summer,” who spouts flawless relationship advice to her older brother and comes off as a pure movie creation (albeit an amusing one).
The “adult in a child’s body” elements are measured enough to work in “Gifted,” such as Mary’s exasperation that “everyone here knows three plus three is six.” Mary delivers a teed-up zinger when she discovers her sheet-wrapped teacher (Jenny Slate) coming out of her uncle’s bedroom: “Good morning, Miss Stevenson” – in the sing-song of first-graders reciting the rote greeting.
While there’s never any doubt who is good and who is bad in “Gifted,” Flynn and Webb aren’t too blunt about it. Frank goes to rescue Mary’s beloved cat, the one-eyed Fred, from the animal shelter, and a brief shot shows us that he also picks up two other cats. Well, maybe it is a bit blunt when Mary encourages her classmates to applaud the zoo diorama of a kid who had it smashed by a bully. Or when she smashes said bully’s nose with a textbook. But broad moments work with kids for some reason.
Webb’s “500 Days of Summer” was about the danger of falling into obsession, and “Gifted” similarly encourages us to think about the importance of balance in one’s life. Not just about Mary living with the truest parental figure she knows, the film also subversively emphasizes the ironic value in letting a kid grow up in a Palmetto-bug infested house while attending a school that doesn’t cater to her intelligence level.