Gifted 2017

     Frank Adler’s sister Diane was a math prodigy.  She had a daughter Mary, she is now 10 years old and Diane took her own life when Mary was 6 months old.  Frank believes his sister would want her daughter to be raised as a normal child with social skills, friends and fun.  They are living in Florida next door to Roberta Taylor.  It doesn’t matter to Mary that her best friend is a woman in her 40’s!!  Evelyn Adler is Frank’s mother and she thinks she knows what is best for Mary.  Evelyn takes Frank to court to decide where Mary will live.

     Evelyn doesn’t look back and think about the things that went wrong with raising Diane?  She also doesn’t think raising Mary the same way will turn out the same?  Frank has Mary in public school and she starts out like a fish out of water but she begins to improve.  Frank is going to fight for Mary as hard as he can but Evelyn is a tough opponent!! 3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

101 min, Drama directed by Marc Webb with Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, Michael Kendall Kaplan, John M. Jackson, Glenn Plummer, John Finn, Elizabeth Marvel, Candace B. Harris, Jon Sklaroff.

Note:  Imdb 7.6 out of 10, 72% critic 85% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 3*, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 189 reviews, Metacritic 60 out of 10 with 33 critics 7.7 out of 10 with 82 reviews, The Guardian 4* out of 5* review by Simran Hans.

Special Note:  Filmed in Savannah, Tybee Island and Atlanta, Georgia.  Chris Evans and Jenny Slate had a relationship for a year after this film.  Marc Webb also directed 500 Days of Summer from 2009.  The school in this film is May Howard Elementary School, 115 Wilmington Island Road, Savannah, Georgia.  The building was completed in the 1950’s and a new school was under construction just south of the original school.