Gifted

Directed by Marc Webb, Gifted details the turmoil that ensues for single father Frank Adler (Chris Evans) after it’s revealed that his young daughter (Mckenna Grace’s Mary) is essentially a budding genius – with the revelation eventually bringing Frank’s estranged mother (Lindsay Duncan’s Evelyn) into the picture. It’s clear immediately that filmmaker Webb is looking to take a serious step back from his larger-than-life previous endeavors (including (500) Days of Summer and The Amazing Spider-Man), as Gifted boasts as low-key an atmosphere as one could possibly envision – with the subdued vibe perpetuated by a lackadaisical pace, pared-down narrative, and emphasis on “gritty” camerawork. (In terms of the latter, Webb’s reliance on a handheld aesthetic is annoying and distracting, to say the least.) The film is, in its early goings, not entirely without its charms, however, as Webb elicits an impressively charismatic turn from star Evans that’s heightened by the actor’s genuine chemistry with his quirky love interest (Jenny Slate’s Bonnie) – to the degree that one can’t help but wish that Webb had stressed the growing bond between Frank and Bonnie to a more pronounced extent. The movie’s midsection, devoted mostly to a fairly run-of-the-mill court case, is somewhat interesting yet rarely engrossing, unfortunately, and it consequently does become increasingly difficult to work up any kind of emotional investment in its outcome. (Likewise, Webb’s third-act efforts at eliciting the viewer’s tears fall hopelessly flat.) It’s ultimately difficult to label Gifted as anything more than a disappointingly generic drama that would, stripped of its leading man, feel perfectly at home on Lifetime, which is a shame, certainly, given the distressing paucity of similar-themed fare within contemporary multiplexes.

** out of ****