What is it about children who are uncommonly bright? Do they become a commodity? A freak? An extension of some other person's ego? A target for custody battles? See what happens here, a struggle between a special little girl's devoted uncle, who has custody, and HIS powerful opinionated mother (the little girl's grandmother).

This award-winning film is brilliantly directed by Marc Webb ("500 Days of Summer"), working from a script by Tom Flynn ("Second String"), who brings us a heart-warming PG-13 (mild profanity) story about their conflict. Of special note: Webb has directed a lengthy single-take scene of the girl and her uncle idly chatting while the girl climbs on him like he's a jungle gym. They are on a beach, silhouetted against a gorgeous sunset. Clichèd but spellbinding.

The cast:
  • Mckenna Grace ("Designated Survivor") is our prodigy Mary Adler, a little girl who loves her one-eyed cat and is wise beyond her years, but she's still a little girl...Just check that gummy smile (she's missing her front teeth!). This girl has a natural talent and is beautifully directed.
  • Fred, the one-eyed cat isn't listed in the cast. Hmmmm... I wonder if that's his real name.
We have decent, principled people to cheer, with no gunshots, vehicular mayhem or blowie uppie stuff. We see wildly innovative approaches to effective parenting. How can we NOT love this terrific film! After the press screening, we revisited the many, many scenes which we found laugh-out-loud funny, wrenchingly sad, goose bumpy satisfying and most of all: Entertaining.
See this film!
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Take a look:
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