Gifted Trailer (2017)

Trailer for Gifted, starring Chris Evans, McKenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate and Octavia Spencer.

Frank Adler (Chris Evans) is a single man raising a child prodigy - his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) - in a coastal town in Florida. Frank's plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the seven-year-old’s mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank’s formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary. Octavia Spencer plays Roberta, Frank and Mary’s landlady and best friend. Jenny Slate is Mary’s teacher, Bonnie, a young woman whose concern for her student develops into a connection with her uncle as well.

It is rare to have a drama become a featured trailer, but Gifted stars Captain America, who is directed by the same person who gave is 500 Days of Summer. To top it off, this is Marc Webb's first original film since that romantic comedy.

The script for this drama has existed since 2014, landing it on that year's Black List. But that doesn't mean it was entirely ignored. Tom Flynn saw his story played out on stage during the Black List Live! reading series in Hollywood.

If you needed to use Gifted in a bit of six degrees of separation, know that Chris Evans and Octavia Spencer previously worked together on the polarizing sci-fi flick Snowpiercer. Where on the fence was I? I agree with Tosh.0, and find the film to be terrible. (sorry)

While the Gifted trailer isn't enough to convince us to race out to the theaters, at least the film is providing something unique. Almost in the same fashion as Goodwill Hunting, we swap out a teen with a chip on his shoulders with a little girl attempting to remain normal. Well, at least her father (Chris Evans) works to ensure she remains normal, against just about every force working against him. Including the grandmother.

To make matters worse, the father's best intentions might come across groundless considering he has some of his own responsibility problems. He doesn't have health insurance in a post-Obamacare world? Isn't that forced down your throat one way or another? But I digress...

Gifted looks like the perfect dramatic fit for Fox Searchlight, who should see some return giving this film a release somewhere between limited and wide. If anything, it's always refreshing to see Chris Evans breaking from the superhero genre, reminding audiences that he's more than just a guy with a solid protein regiment. Having castmembers such as Octavia Spencer, Lindsay Duncan and Jenny Slate there to support him is definitely a bonus as well.