Gifted: A Movie Review

Chris Evans is the sarcastic character we all know and love from Avengers known as Captain America.  Once in awhile, he'll venture off and star in a different kind of movie with less action and more heart.  He rocked it in Before I Go and did it again with this movie about a genius little girl who lives with her uncle after her mom dies.  It was literally everything I hoped it would be.

Mary Adler is in first grade, but has the personality of a 25 year old and the brain of Albert Einstein.  The girl can solve complex equations that mathematicians struggle with.  Her uncle, Frank, is trying to give her a normal life after witnessing his sister end her own from struggling with depression. He knew his sister always struggled with her genius and abnormal life so thought his sister would want Mary to play and just be a kid as much as possible.  Things begin to crumble for him when his mother all of a sudden wants to be in her granddaughter's life.  She stopped talking to her daughter when she became pregnant for Mary and after 7 years, decides she wants to take her.  Frank knows his  mom just wants to take Mary to live with the ridiculously smart and shove math down her throat just like she did with her mother, but he does everything he can to fight her, which unfortunately means going to court.  Will the judge side with what Mary has always known, or send her to Boston to live with her estranged grandmother?  More importantly, will Frank decide that a one bedroom apartment and simple living is lacking in what Mary really needs or deserves?

As I said earlier, this movie was everything I had hoped it would be.  Mackenzie Grace, who plays Mary, was exceptional.  Her charismatic personality and adult humor in such a tiny body was endearing.  The plot posed an intriguing question of which would be better for her between living with her uncle who repaired boats for a living, or living in Boston surrounded by mathematicians.  All Mary wanted was to live with her uncle and continue with their blissful life, but the more he sees what she is capable of, the more he questions his own ability to raise her.  His conflict of missing back his previous bachelor life and living the life of a single parent was well acted by Chris Evans.  This movie had a ton of heart and definitely brought out the emotions. I is a must see for sure. IMDB gave it a 7.7/10 and Rotten Tomatoes gave it 65%.  I will raise IMDB and give it a solid 8/10, but you should see it for yourself and decide.