Remember last year, when we learned that Marcel the Shell’s Jenny Slate and our soulful, Nazi-crushing Captain America Chris Evans were ~DATING~ and we all died of how unexpectedly-yet-perfectly sweet and cute it was? Well, Gifted is the movie that brought them together. Knowing only this, I was ready to hand in a review of nothing but heart-eyes emojis, but my demanding editor insisted I “watch the movie.” So I did.
Gifted is about a little girl, Mary (Mckenna Grace), who’s being raised by her uncle, Frank (Evans), after her brilliant mother’s suicide. Bonnie (Slate) is a teacher who gets a little too involved after learning that Mary is brilliant, too. Or, like, beyond brilliant. Mary rules at math.
She’s also an adorably sassy and charming little kid—both lovable AND frightening, which are excellent qualities for a little girl to possess. Greedy, boring adults try to turn Mary into a math robot, except for Frank, who gives her a normal childhood and a one-eyed cat.
Despite the fact that Evans, Slate, Grace, and the one-eyed cat are all so charming and watchable that you almost forget how much math is on-screen, Gifted is the kind of movie most people will never hear about. But some people will accidentally watch it on an airplane, or when their parents are visiting, and they’ll be pleasantly entertained for two hours. Then they’ll probably forget about it again.
There aren’t enough movies in the “quiet and nice” category these days, so that’s meant as praise. Sometimes celebrity gossip has value, and getting me to watch Gifted is one of those times—even though I already liked it without even having to watch it. 