I made a point of recording it during the February free HBO weekend, and finally sat down to watch it. while I was recovering from surgery. This is not a remake of Little Man Tate, though there are a ton of plot similarities.
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SPOILERS
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PROS
1) Chris Evans shows a depth to his acting he normally doesn't reach for in a lot of his other movies. His Frank is not a dumb mechanic. Evans gives Frank a measured nuance of why a former philosophy professor would become a boat repairman for the sake of his niece's humanity.
2) Elizabeth Marvel captured the incredible ego of today's public school officials, where it's never really about the kids, but about punishing the parent/guardian(s) for daring to question the official's methodology or opinion.
3) Lindsay Duncan as Frank's mom/Mary's maternal grandmother Evelyn was perfect as a person who really doesn't get the harm she does to the people around her. (Sending her granddaughter's cat to a kill shelter was low, but Evelyn really didn't get how bad she fucked up.)
4) Mckenna Grace was perfect as Mary. She didn't push the precociousness too far, nor did she come across as unnatural in her emotions. Despite Mary's intellect, she still comes across as a warm, giving child.
CONS
1) Octavia Spencer does her usual excellent work, but I wish casting directors and producers would see her as something more than the Mamie role they keep plugging her into.
2) This would still have been a great movie without the gratuitous sex scene between Frank and Bonnie, Mary's public school 1st grade teacher.
Overall, Gifted earns a 9 stars out of 10.
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