Gifted (Movie)

Gifted is a 2017 American drama film directed by Marc Webb and written by Tom Flynn. It stars Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer. The plot follows an intellectually gifted 7-year-old who becomes the subject of a custody battle between her uncle and Mary Adler

Plot
In a small town near Tampa, Florida, seven-year-old Mary Adler lives with uncle and de facto guardian, Frank. Her best friend is her 40-ish neighbor, Roberta. On her first day of first grade, she shows remarkable mathematical talent, which impresses her teacher, Bonnie Stevenson. There, despite her initial disdain for average children her own age and her boredom with their classwork, she begins to bond with them when she brings her one-eyed cat, Fred, for show-and-tell and later defends a classmate from a bully on the bus. Mary is offered a scholarship to a private school for gifted children. However, Frank turns it down. Based on his family's experiences with similar schools, he fears Mary will not have a chance at a "normal" childhood.

It emerges that Mary's mother, Diane, had been a promising mathematician, dedicated to the Navier–Stokes problem (one of the unsolved Millennium Prize Problems) before taking her own life when Mary was six months old. Mary has lived with Frank, a former college professor turned boat repairman, ever since.

Frank's estranged mother and Mary's maternal grandmother, Evelyn, seeks to gain custody of Mary and move her to Massachusetts, believing that Mary is a "one-in-a-billion" mathematical prodigy who should be specially tutored in preparation for a life devoted to mathematics, much as Diane was. However, Frank is adamant that his sister would want Mary to be in a normal public school and have the childhood she didn't have. Worried that the judge will rule against him and he will lose Mary completely, Frank accepts a compromise brokered by his lawyer Greg Cullen that sees Mary placed in foster care and attend the private school where Evelyn wants to have her enrolled. The foster parents live just 25 minutes from Frank's home, Frank will be entitled to scheduled visits, and Mary will be able to decide where she wants to live after her 12th birthday.

Mary is devastated at being placed in foster care, and her foster father says she refuses to see Frank. When Bonnie sees a picture of Fred up for adoption, she alerts Frank. Frank retrieves the cat from the pound and, learning that Fred was brought in due to allergy issues, realizes that Evelyn—who is allergic to cats—is overseeing Mary's education in the guest house of Mary's foster home. He then reveals to Evelyn—who had been a mathematician herself—that Diane had solved the Navier–Stokes problem, but stipulated that the solution was to be withheld until Evelyn's death. Knowing that it meant everything to Evelyn to see Diane solve the problem, Frank offers to publish Diane's work if Evelyn drops her objection to him having custody of Mary. Evelyn reluctantly agrees.

The film ends with Mary back in the custody of Frank, returning to public school while taking college-level courses in the mornings.

Cast

 * Chris Evans as Frank Adler
 * Mckenna Grace as Mary Adler
 * Lindsay Duncan as Evelyn Adler
 * Jenny Slate as Bonnie Stevenson
 * Octavia Spencer as Roberta Taylor
 * Glenn Plummer as Greg Cullen
 * John Finn as Aubrey Highsmith
 * Michael Kendall Kaplan as Justin Gilmore
 * Keir O'Donnell as Bradley Pollard

Production
In August 2015, it was announced Chris Evans had been cast in the film, with Marc Webb directing from a screenplay by Tom Flynn. In September 2015, Mckenna Grace, Octavia Spencer, Lindsay Duncan and Jenny Slate joined the cast and in November 2015, Julie Ann Emery was also added.

Filming began in October 2015 in Savannah, Georgia, as well as in Tybee Island, Georgia, and finished Nov 20, 2015.

Release
The film was scheduled to be released on April 12, 2017, but was pushed up to April 7, 2017.

Other Links

 * Wikipedia
 * IMDb
 * Rotten Tomatoes