directed by Marc Webb
written by Tom Flynn
I had originally planned to make this review my inaugural vlog, but time constraints and a need to get familiar with the format kind of scuttled that, especially since I wanted to get this review out while it was still relevant (which I'm not even sure it is at this point).
Anyway, this film is about a rather unconventional family; boat repairman Frank Adler (Chris Evans) takes care of his niece Mary (McKenna Grace) in a quiet blue-collar neighborhood. After having home-schooled her for several years, Frank decides it's time to send Mary to school, over the objections of motherly neighbor and landlady Roberta Taylor (Octavia Spencer) who doesn't think she'll fit in well. At school, after run-ins with her teacher Bonnie Stevenson (Jenny Slate) and School Principal Davis (Elizabeth Marvel) which prompt a meeting with Frank, the truth comes out: Mary is a math genius, just like her deceased mother, Frank's sister. The school authorities want her moved to a school for gifted children where she can maximize her potential, but Frank wants her to stay put so that she can enjoy a normal childhood. Soon, however, Frank's mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), from whom Frank had been hiding Mary all these years following her mother's suicide, shows up, and a battle for custody, and Mary's future, ensues.
While the movie works off a simple premise and is fairly predictable, family dramas like this aren't about twist endings. A movie like this will rise or fall on the strength of the performance of its actors and from Evans, Grace, Slate, Duncan and Spencer, director Marc Webb, nicely slipping back into indie-auteur mode after the disastrous Amazing Spider-Man 2, coaxes some fairly powerful performances. I don't know if people realize how talented Evans is as an actor; even digitally making him skinny in the first Captain America would not have worked if he hadn't acted the part, and the earnestness he showed there really shines through here. Most important to the story is his chemistry with the precocious McKenna Grace, and the two of them really knock it out of the park. While his romantic chemistry with Slate kind of fall flat, the manner in which he and Duncan play off each other is something really special to watch. In depicting the struggle between Frank and Evelyn, Webb and screenwriter Tom Flynn really try to toe the fine line between family squabbling and a more black-and-white hero-vs-villain struggle, and often find themselves veering a little too much into the latter territory at times, but it still works. Evans and Duncan do a good job of depicting a strained mother and son relationship, but one still sees the vestiges of familial love here and there. Grace is a revelation as the child prodigy Mary, though I don't quite expect her to be the childhood name that Dakota Fanning was in the noughties. I suspect we'll be seeing her again at some point.
It was nice to see Captain America swap his tights and shield for jeans and a workman's tools for a change.
7.5/10
