Written by: Tom Flynn
Directed by: Marc Webb
Starring: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Octavia Spencer, Jenny Slate, Glenn Plummer
Rated: PG-13
Plot
Bachelor Frank Adler assumes the care of his niece, but is drawn into a custody battle with his mother when the child reveals herself to be a math prodigy.
Verdict
This is a bit of a different custody battle that explores whether a kid should be pushed to fully develop her abilities or enjoy being a child. A movie like this can get emotionally manipulative, and while this does, it never felt out of place. This is that kind of movie. It probably goes where you expect, but it has some nice twists along the way while asking probing questions.
Watch it.
Review
This is a cute movie. It opens with a teacher trying to stump a know it all first grade kid. The kid keeps going, forcing the teacher to grab a calculator only to realize the kid is right. Mckenna Grace does a great job of being snarky as Mary.
Frank wants her to have a normal childhood despite her abilities. He has a unique insight. His sister was brilliant, and he thinks being labeled as different and shuttled through school had tragic consequences. He wants to keep Mary's life normal. Her grandmother Evelyn, who has never been in the picture, now wants custody. Evelyn wants to push Mary to accomplish greatness in mathematics that Mary's mother never reached.
Both Frank and Evelyn are approaching this based on personal experience. Frank laments what happened to his sister while Evelyn regrets giving her being a scholar to raise a family. Both are thinking about Mary, but Evelyn wants to live vicariously while thinking that fame, even math fame, is better than being well adjusted.
There's a great scene where Frank takes Mary to the hospital. Mary's biological father doesn't take the time to see her during the court proceedings. It's the nearest he's ever been and his failure to show interest devastates Mary. Frank takes her to the hospital to show her how joyous people are when a baby is born, telling her that's what it was like when she was born. It's a touching scene.
After the custody ruling you get a weird feeling about what's going on, which is later confirmed. The foster family doesn't have Mary's best interests at heart. There's a huge bombshell about Frank's sister, Evelyn's daughter. Frank makes a deal with Evelyn that answers the question of whether her interest in Mary is about the child or about what the child can accomplish.
This is a happy ending movie, but how it got there was really well done.
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