VERDICT Warm and heartfelt performances from
the two principals are undercut by a formula
that too readily reveals the outcome. Interesting
workings fail to fully add up. Must do better
next term.CHRIS EVANS IS no stranger to superheroes.
He was the Fantastic Four’s Human Torch,
telekinetic ‘Mover’ Nick Grant in Push, and
someone called Captain America (no, us neither)
in a little-seen series of films. In Gifted he has no
special powers — the title doesn’t even refer to
him — but as Florida-based boat mechanic
Frank, he demonstrates an everyday heroism by
raising his niece Mary (Mckenna Grace)
following the suicide of her mother.
Mary is the gifted one, having inherited
mega-brained maths skills from her mother.
Frank, all too aware of how his sister was
damaged by the pressures laid on her during her
academic rise, wants to shield Mary from a
similar fate. A former college professor himself,
he is convinced his young charge should live a life
of normality. He stoically scraps against the
system in a bid to keep Mary in a local school
rather than have her dispatched to a faraway
facility for brainiacs. He also broods a lot.
Still, Evans plays his part with conviction.
As does Mckenna Grace, cracking equations and
cracking wise with a naturalness that quite belies
the fact it’s just the script that is priming her with
MIT-standard algebra. You believe Grace can
solve any of the six outstanding Millennium
Prize Problems. Delicately handled and precise,
she is the soulful centre of this movie. There is
also a strong supporting turn from the somewhat
underused Octavia Spencer, as their neighbour
and Mary’s mother figure, and from Jenny Slate,
playing Mary’s grade school teacher and Frank’s
love interest.
To begin with, everything goes swimmingly.
Frank, Mary and their monocular cat live
a spirited and lovely life in the sun. Eventually,
though, Frank’s harridan mother (Lindsay
Duncan) arrives. A stiff patrician with an English
accent (tsk!), she’s such a one-dimensional ice
queen she could probably reign in Narnia. Once
alerted to her granddaughter’s potential, she
immediately decides she wants Mary to continue
in the family business: maths. She plans on
whisking Mary away to a life of insular tutelage
in Boston. It is here things start to go awry, for
Frank and his niece, and for the film itself.
What might have been a slightly cutesy and
female-focussed rendition of Good Will Hunting
now evolves into a slender echo of Kramer Vs
Kramer (or ‘Insert-Courtroom-Drama-Here’) as
a largely predictable custody battle takes centre
stage. There is one baffling moment when a deal
is cut and Frank surrenders Mary to foster folks
— which seems unlikely given his intransigence
thus far — and this leaves the audience to count
the minutes until their tearful reunion. As the
film heads towards its conclusion the drama
slips into melodrama — cue an interminable
scene at a maternity ward — the tear-jerking
turning saccharine.
And this is surprising. After all, director Marc
Webb, who comes swinging out of the Andrew
Garfield Spider-Man movies, should be landing
on familiar ground. With (500) Days Of
Summer, Webb demonstrated a firm grasp of
relationships, bringing a deft touch and an
appreciation of poignancy. With Gifted, he slips
into obvious pitfalls and booby-traps. We know
he can do better. WILL LAWRENCEGIFTED
DIRECTOR Marc Webb
CAST Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay
Duncan, Jenny Slate, Octavia Spencer
PLOT Frank (Chris Evans) is a single man raising
his seven-year-old niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) in
a sleepy Florida town. Mary is a maths genius,
though Frank tries to give her a normal, everyday
life. When her talents come to the attention of
Frank’s formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay
Duncan), however, their life is thrown into turmoil.
OUT 31 AUGUST
RATED M / 101 MINS
HHHHH
HAMPSTEAD
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OUT 17 AUGUST / RATED M / 103 MINS
DIRECTOR Joel Hopkins
CAST James Norton, Diane Keaton,
Brendan GleesonDIANE KEATON’S FORTE, her distinctively
nervous, awkward charm, has worn
beautifully well and borne her along
triumphantly in an astonishingly long reign
as a romantic-comedy queen — the Elizabeth
II of romcom, if you will. But it’s the great
Brendan Gleeson who’s the biggest surprise
here. He’s shown us intimations he can be
tetchy but loveable — in The Guard, at least,
he was a character you could conceivably
hug — but in this small, pleasant but
unremarkable affair he’s cute, breezy and
bright-eyed even when he’s in grumpy mode.
He may look like a breaching, gingery whale,
but this is a man you would happily hang out
with on a picnic.
The story here is said to have been
“inspired” by the life of Harry ‘The Hermit’
Hallowes. Interpret that as “very loosely”
inspired. Harry was also an Irishman who
lived rough on Hampstead Heath for years
and successfully challenged property
developers by claiming squatters’ rights,
receiving title to his little shack and patch of
land. Harry had brushes with the film world,
having done odd jobs for locals including
Terry Gilliam, but it’s probably safe to
assume he was less fragrant than Gleeson’s
dear Donald and certainly did not find
romance in a Diane Keaton shape. Harry’s
recent death will at least spare him the
intrusions of location tourists, who may be
inspired by the film’s invitingly photogenic
use of the Heath and environs.
The least credible side of things comes,
oddly, in the Emily character. She’s an
American who has lived in London for
decades yet seems to have no friends or
interests. Even if one can believe how
helpless and apathetic she is about her lack
of purpose, it’s preposterous she is timidly
cowed speechless by the bullying, supposed
chums who live in the same mansion block.
It seems likely it was hoped this would
attract the same set who made The Lady In
The Van a hit, although that had more going
for it. It’s closer to director Hopkins’
previous films with stars “of a certain age”
— Last Chance Harvey with Emma Thompson
and Dustin Hoffman, and The Love Punch, in
which Thompson was paired with Pierce
Brosnan. Fans of those must be limited, but
here you go, nan. ANGIE ERRIGO