To raise up a prodigy

It’s tough enough to raise a kid. It’s tougher when that kid is a 7-year-old sassy mathematical genius who passes advanced calculus before first grade and bloodies a bully’s nose on the school bus. Gifted is a charming drama about a child who is so abnormally smart her struggle to lead a “normal” childhood unfolds in a court battle.

When Frank Adler (Chris Evans) became the de facto guardian of his orphaned niece Mary (Mckenna Grace), his greatest fear was that he’d ruin Mary’s life the way he blames his mother for ruining his sister’s.

Mary’s mother too was gifted, but her giftedness became a curse: Her life revolved around math problems and little else until she committed suicide. So Frank resolves to give Mary what her mother never had: an ordinary childhood. He quits his university professor job in Boston to fix boats at a humdrum Florida town and enrolls Mary in a regular public school.

Conflict arises when Mary’s grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) shows up at Frank’s front door and files for custody, saying Mary possesses a one-in-a-billion mind that deserves the same rigorous academic cultivation her mother got. Both Frank and Evelyn believe they have Mary’s best interests at heart. The ensuing custody battle balances the future of Mary’s afternoons between Girl Scout cookies and private tutors.

Though entertaining and heart-tugging, Gifted lacks deep character development. Grandmother Evelyn, who easily should have been the most fascinating character, fits the predictable mold of a Boston Brahmin Tiger Mom, while Frank’s love interest and Mary’s schoolteacher, Bonnie (Jenny Slate), fades into insignificance by the film’s second half. What Gifted does well is make you fall in love with little firecracker Mary, whose gift isn’t just a brilliant mind, but a radiant, gap-toothed beam and a bold advocacy for justice.