Gifted revisits the age-old dilemma of whether parents should pressure their children to perform in the classroom or let them live a life of normalcy, skinned knees, bad grades and all.
In the case of outspoken seven-year-old Mary, played by Mckenna Grace, this dilemma is played up to dramatic effect when it is discovered that the girl is a mathematical genius, too brilliant to endure a mediocre education in a public school that will not challenge her mind.
Things get sticky as the girl’s guardian and uncle, Frank Adler, played by Chris Evans of Captain America fame, is vehemently against putting his niece in a special school for the gifted despite gentle urgings from Mary’s class teacher and later, stern warnings from the principal of the school, who is of the opinion that Frank is gambling with his niece’s education.
Mary herself is averse to education in an under-achieving public school and only wants to continue being home-schooled by her uncle.
While the audience can appreciate Frank’s argument that a kid should be a kid, “this” kid is no ordinary kid – she’s a child prodigy, who by her very level of intelligence, cannot play by the same rules applied to everyday children.
Yet, the movie banks on the idealistic, sentimental dreamers among us to root for the young and handsome Uncle Frank while violently rejecting the ambitious, steely-eyed Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), mother to Frank and grandmother to Mary, who embarks on an all-out legal bid to pry the girl away from the protective arms of her son.
The movie takes a rather formulaic turn right about now, which is a shame as it could have branched out in a million different ways and shown movie-goers that life cannot always be wrapped up in a nice, little bow and sometimes “gifts” are to be used wisely and not frittered away.
Octavia Spencer, playing Frank’s landlord, best friend, and Mary’s occasional babysitter, is a crowd-puller as one of the members of the cast, having played memorable roles in The Help and Hidden Figures. However her role in Gifted borders on bland and does not do justice to her acting prowess despite the occasional moments in the movie where she shines.
The role of Bonnie, played by Jenny Slate, Mary’s good-natured class teacher, is also a bit of a let-down. The moment we see her in the classroom posing a simple maths question to her charges, there’s a strong suspicion that Uncle Frank and Bonnie will be solving many mathematical equations of their own soon enough.
The young and dashing Uncle Frank himself is rather brooding and makes the most to provide for himself and his niece as a boat repairman. Dirty fingernails and scruffy beard aside, we soon discover that the low profile Uncle Frank has a fascinating past himself and a family history unlike that of the normal folk among whom he lives.
The relationship he shares with Mary is endearing and their banter, entertaining. There are also sufficient comic moments with their one-eyed cat to keep the movie memorable. However it still falls short in leaving one on an emotional high, even when all hell breaks loose once Evelyn visits and the court case to gain full custody of Mary goes into overdrive.
Without giving away the ending, suffice to say that Gifted is a feel-good movie that tugs at all the right emotional strings – tear-jerker one minute, angst-ridden the next with loads of endearing yet comical moments between the main characters to keep it pleasant enough although somewhat predictable.
Gifted, brought by 20th Century Fox, will open in cinemas on April 27. It comes with a P13 rating.