The movie shifts into custody-battle mode shortly after Frank’s wealthy British Gorgon of a mother, Evelyn (played with viperous elegance by Lindsay Duncan), swoops in from her perch in Boston. Something similar could be said of “Gifted,” in which even the smallest lines and details - such as Mary’s love for her one-eyed tabby cat, Fred - turn out to be variables in a meticulously rigged emotional equation. One of the funniest arrives courtesy of her well-meaning teacher (Jenny Slate), whose natural spark all but ensures her status as a love interest for Frank - an icky parent-teacher indiscretion that the movie is just quick-witted enough to get away with.īefore he churned out the two recent “Amazing Spider-Man” movies starring Andrew Garfield, Webb rose to indie-film prominence with “(500) Days of Summer,” a smart and slickly ingratiating romantic comedy that was ultimately a bit too taken with its own cleverness. Mary’s elementary school, where she spends a few weeks being challenged socially if not intellectually, offers an abundance of kid-friendly life lessons couched in sharp comic payoffs and clever punchlines. The ever-reliable Octavia Spencer, recently Oscar-nominated for her performance as a real-life math whiz in “Hidden Figures,” turns up here as Frank’s landlady, a sturdy fount of wisecracking wisdom whom Mary adores. Humor is one of the key weapons in their arsenal, starting with the relaxed, quippy banter that flows between Frank and Mary, whose love for one another is best expressed in terms of mutual exasperation.
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