I really wanted to like this. There really are not enough character dramas out there, and this tries to tell the story of a gifted girl, her troubled mother and uncle (Chris Evans) who looks after her.
Evans is solid, if unspectacular, and McKenna Grace (who plays the girl) skates a thin line between child actor annoying and adorable. Lindsey Duncan and Octavia Spencer weigh in as supporting roles and everything should be hunky dory.
The problem is is that the notion of a gifted child being born from a gifted mathematician is a little thin and the protracted custody battle feels hackneyed and full of predictable narratives that push us towards a conclusion you can see a mile off. Trying to make the grandmother evil is simply done by making her English and how Mary has procured the methodology of advanced and abstract math (to college level) is glossed over.
I wanted to like this, I really did, but it felt false. I didn't believe it and that is what cinema is all about.
Evans is solid, if unspectacular, and McKenna Grace (who plays the girl) skates a thin line between child actor annoying and adorable. Lindsey Duncan and Octavia Spencer weigh in as supporting roles and everything should be hunky dory.
The problem is is that the notion of a gifted child being born from a gifted mathematician is a little thin and the protracted custody battle feels hackneyed and full of predictable narratives that push us towards a conclusion you can see a mile off. Trying to make the grandmother evil is simply done by making her English and how Mary has procured the methodology of advanced and abstract math (to college level) is glossed over.
I wanted to like this, I really did, but it felt false. I didn't believe it and that is what cinema is all about.