Gifted is a great showcase for Chris Evans and McKenna Grace. The film features strong performances from its lead actors and surrounds them with a great supporting cast. Marc Webb’s direction of Tom Flynn’s story is solid and the structure of the story works to build emotion and offer enough drama without ever going too far.
Gifted features some strong performances from the entire cast
Mary Adler (McKenna Grace) is starting first grade at a regular school, but she her teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) realizes that she’s likely gifted. Her uncle and guardian, Frank Adler (Chris Evans), wants to honor his sister’s wishes to give Mary a normal life, but their mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), wants to push Mary to achieve her potential. Mary becomes the focus of a custody battle as both parties feel they have her best interest in mind.
The premise of this film is rife with emotions so it’s not surprising that the actors involved would get a chance to really sell the drama. Chris Evans and McKenna Grace give outstanding performances and they really sell the emotional struggle their characters are going through. Grace was particularly impressive demonstrating all the ranges of emotion that may be required in such a situation. Octavia Spencer plays Roberta, a neighbor who helps raise Mary, and does what she does best; act. She makes several moments more impactful by being in the scene even if all she’s doing is holding someone’s hand.
The drama feels earned throughout
The film is full of great moments that help the narrative unfold. Mary’s genius is shown early when the class is learning basic addition and she’s able to do complex multiplication and square roots. We see her moral fiber as she stands up for a peer who is being bullied. She is a kid who is smart and the question of what kind of life should she be living is brought up organically as the debate will wage on.
The film deals with similar ideas as Captain Fantastic in some ways, but are more familiar to everyday. Frank’s scraping by and they live in a duplex in Tampa, Fl. However, he loves her and wants her to be the best person she can be and isn’t concerned with her aimlessly pursuing her talent at the cost of happiness. Yet, the film allows Evelyn to be painted as a bit of a monster. Who’s desire to have her daughter succeed pushed her to ignoring her daughter’s desires outside of this pursuit of excellence.
Final thoughts…
One of my favorite scenes in the film is a fairly quiet one where Frank takes Mary and Roberta to the hospital. Not because something happened to either of them, but he needed to show Mary how happy people are when a baby is brought into this earth. It’s a simple moment but has some emotional powerful repercussions. That’s what this film does so well. It’s a small story of an unorthodox family and the lessons of life and love are powerful. The performances make this film a memorable one and helps Gifted earn the Not Quite Golden, Ponyboy rating.
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