The movie does not go out of its way to entirely vindicate Frank … not even when Mary’s grandmother comes swooping down from Boston. On the other hand, there’s something about Frank that strongly suggests that as right as the principal is, he’s more not wrong. One hates to side with the principal, but she’s right. Said principal insists a public school is not the place for Mary, but Frank insists that it is. Mary’s gift, her boredom in class, and her passion for justice-soon after day one, she clobbers a bully-and more bring her to the attention of the school principal ( Elizabeth Marvel). The answer comes soon enough, as Mary amazes her kind but befuddled teacher Bonnie with her math-problem-solving stills. As soon as Mary’s on the bus, Frank’s neighbor Roberta ( Octavia Spencer, playing a role she must be pretty used to by now, but which she nevertheless does not phone in, and good for her, and the movie) comes by to tell him that by insisting on sending her to public school, he’s all but sealed Mary’s doom. “You’re gonna meet kids today you can borrow money from for the rest of your life,” he tells her. The two have a good bantering style as he explains to her why it’s a good idea to break away from home-schooling and join grade one. On the opening day of school, he tells the little girl he’s made her a “special” breakfast, and it’s soon revealed he means a bowl of Special K. Chris Evans is at his most effectively Evans-y in the role of Frank, who leads a mystifyingly quasi-carefree life repairing boats and looking after extremely adorable Mary ( Mckenna Grace). If “Gifted” works for you as it did me, it’s mostly because of the cast, but also the way the story unpeels. The world could use more of them these days as far as I’m concerned. In the middle of the proceedings, my jaw almost dropped: “This is a child-custody … what’s the word … melodrama!!!” And I don’t say melodrama like it’s a bad thing. And as executed, the premise plays rather differently-more of a “ Kramer vs. But even the most high-concept movie is execution-dependent, and the execution here is far better than the premise leads one to expect. The setup sounds like “Rainman Annie” or something.
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