Daddy Day Camp.
Boat Trip.
Snow Dogs.
Rat Race.
All those films get erased off Cuba Gooding Jr.'s "for shame" movie list because of "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story." It's on TNT Saturday night at 8.
I just loved it. Ben Carson (that's him with Cuba in the photo) is the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, and watching his life story made me want to be a better mother.
His mother (played by Kimberly Elise, the Cicely Tyson of our time) was a single parent who couldn't read, cleaned homes for a living and suffered from bouts of depression, yet still had enough in her to buy her own home, keep her two sons focused on education, and in the end, raise an engineer and the first doctor to successfully separate conjoined twins joined at the back of the head.
Faith plays a big part in the Carsons' story too. He's a man steeped in science but sustained by prayer.
I don't think Gooding's acting was particularly brilliant in this film, although he is a master at cinematic crying. He plays Carson as a humble man, struggling to stay on course. He's gifted but not perfect.
It's the story that drives this movie. Sure, there's probably some dramatic license, but Carson's life is one of those almost unbelievable journeys that's inspiring without making you feel like it could never happen to you.
Assistant Features Editor Adrienne Johnson Martin would like to have her life turned into an animated cartoon. 
