Four stars. Rated PG-13, and rather harshly, for dramatic intensity and mild profanity
By Derrick Bang
Stage parents aren’t confined to
Broadway theaters.
Indeed, they’re cropping up
everywhere these days: from AYSO fields to reality TV shows — Alana “Honey Boo
Boo” Thompson’s parents really should be jailed, for child abuse — and from
Suzuki music institutions to public school “gifted child” programs stalked by
hyper-obsessive mothers and fathers.
 |
| When the obsessive/possessive Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) meets granddaughter Mary (McKenna Grace) for the first time, she immediately tries to bribe the little girl with a laptop computer: a gesture that her son Frank (Chris Evans), Mary's uncle and guardian, finds all too familiar. |
Somehow, in far too many cases,
the child becomes either a commodity, a cash cow, or the instrument by which
the parents live out their
unfulfilled dreams. Either way, a tragedy.
All of which makes Tom Flynn’s charming,
astute and frequently heartbreaking original script for Gifted quite well-timed. It feels authentic, with the perceptive
savvy of somebody who has Been There. Indeed, he acknowledges — in the film’s
press notes — growing up with a sister who was “the most unassuming,
ridiculously smart person you’ve ever met. When she was 5, everyone in the
family was afraid of her, she was so determined.”
Director Marc Webb must’ve been
on the same wavelength, because he has coaxed an extraordinary performance from
young Mckenna Grace.
We meet 7-year-old Mary Adler
(Grace) on the opening day of first grade, as she reluctantly boards a bus
after considerable coaxing by Frank (Chris Evans). He’s not her father, as we
soon discover, but her uncle; they live modestly in a tiny community along the
Florida coast, where he repairs boats for a living. They share their home with
a one-eyed, orange-and-white cat named Fred.
Best. Movie. Cat. In. Years.
(Just sayin’.)
Mary is no ordinary child, which becomes
apparent to teacher Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate), during a math segment
tailored for children accustomed to the basics of 3 plus 3.
No big deal, Frank hastily
insists, when Bonnie later asks him about Mary’s ability to multiply large
numbers in her head. It’s a trick; she uses the Trachtenberg System.
But Mary’s precocious nature —
her best friend, aside from Frank, is their landlady Roberta (Octavia Spencer)
— also comes to the attention of the snooty school principal, Ms. Davis
(Elizabeth Marvel). Annoyed by Frank’s unexpected insistence that Mary remain
in this school, as opposed to being transferred to a high-profile academic
institution that’ll “better suit her gifts,” Ms. Davis digs into their past.
