Evans plays Frank Adler, a boat mechanic who lives in Florida with his seven-year-old niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) and a one-eyed rescue cat called Fred. Mary is a child prodigy who immediately captures the attention of her first-grade teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) with her advanced grasp of maths. If you had dismissed this one out of hand from the trailers, you’ll have to trust us when we say that it must have been a tough one to market. The official trailer ends with a hard cut to a beat in which Frank’s neighbour Roberta (Octavia Spencer) threatens to smother him in his sleep, a gag that lands like a lead balloon at the end of a short promo for an uplifting dramedy. In context, the film is much wittier and warmer than the trailers led us to believe. Don’t get us wrong, it’s certainly sentimental and melodramatic, but director Marc Webb (who also has Marvel form, on Sony’s studio-addled Amazing Spider-Man movies) and writer Tom Flynn definitely have a handle on that. The Black List nominated script has big laughs and tearjerking scenes alike, and as predictable as the premise may sound, it’s engrossing all the same. If you ever find yourself sympathising with Evelyn, it probably won’t last that long, because Evans and Mckenna Grace are adorable together. It’s gratifying that Mary is such an irrepressible character, believably whip-smart but also bang on in her comic timing, and she gets plenty of opportunity to show it. Frank is at one point referred to as “the sad, tortured hot guy” by an admirer, but Evans relishes making more of him than that. Aside from the central family, Jenny Slate is lovely as Bonnie and although it’s not a love story (like Webb’s (500) Days Of Summer) ,I was entirely unsurprised to learn after the screening that she and Evans were a real life couple after discovering their chemistry here. Glenn Plummer steals a few scenes as Frank’s lawyer too, but the zingy script finds a lot for everyone to do. If there’s a downside, it’s that while most films could use more Octavia Spencer, this one actually has her show up to do not a lot. Gifted is in UK cinemas now.