Gigi & Nate

A heartfelt if overly saccharine portrait of a young paraplegic whose shattered soul is saved when he gets a Capuchin monkey as a service animal.

Back when I was a newspaper editor, I used to opine that you could never go wrong by running photos of cute kids and cute animals. Sure, the news value of such spreads may have been a little suspect, but anything that brings a smile to your audience’s faces is not to be dismissed lightly.

This same spirit animates “Gigi & Nate,” a true-ish drama about a young man whose soul is shattered when he becomes a quadriplegic and finds healing when he gets a Capuchin monkey as a service animal. Put two adorable primates together, layer in lots of tender, saccharine moments and people will happily laugh/cry their way through the next couple of hours.

This movie from director Nick Hamm (“Driven”) and screenwriter David Hudgins (“Everwood,” “Friday Night Lights”) is very heartfelt and sincere. It almost has the look and feel of faith-based filmmaking, although nobody ever breaks out into prayers or invokes God’s name.

Is the movie at times maudlin and a little hammy? It is.

But any filmmaker should lean into the material they’ve chosen. And “Gigi & Nate” is what it is, an unabashed tear-jerker that doesn’t apologize for it.

Nate Gibson (Charlie Rowe), a cocky 18-year-old about to go off to college, is vacationing in North Carolina on the Fourth of July. He’s the sort of guy who can just walk up to a girl like Lori (Zoe Margaret Colletti), a local working the snack stand, and woo her into joining him on a boating excursion with his sister and her boyfriend. Charm and confidence is a rare combination in a lad so young.

Of course, this means he’s the sort who jumps off cliffs into lakes to show off. Unfortunately, in a freak accident he contracts meningitis, which invades his brain and leaves him a twitching wreck in the hospital. Nate survives, but is left a quadriplegic barely able to move a finger.

His parents (Marcia Gay Harden and Jim Belushi) are well-to-do, so they’re able to build a special guest room for Nate at their Nashville-area home, complete with a motorized sling to move him about, plus daily nursing help, physical therapy, etc.

Mom is an artist who gave up her work to tend to Nate, while dad is a workaholic type who’s barely ever home. Needless to say, their own relationship becomes strained by Nate’s needs, and he in turns grows morose and even suicidal.

Through a (fictional) organization named CEBUS that pairs service animals with people with disability, Nate is partnered with Gigi, a Capuchin monkey who was rescued from an awful “petting zoo” in California where she was fed sugary breakfast cereal. They’re two lost souls put together to lean on each other.

Things are tough at first. Gigi refuses to even come out of her cage, is terrified of the family dog, Banjo, and even throws poo at Nate’s older sister, Katy (Josephine Langford), when she approaches him too aggressively.

(A tactic I wish I’d employed at key conflicts in my life.)

Of course, this is just typical “struggle before the win” material you see in formulaic filmmaking, marking the end of the first act and the beginning of the second. Here Gigi comes out of her shell, starts helping Nate and their bond becomes irrevocable. He makes miraculous progress on his therapy, and even starts an Instagram account as “themonkeyguy” featuring heavy doses of Gigi’s endearing antics, and they become a viral hit.

Of course, Nate is still a young man who wants to have fun, so he makes an unwise choice that brings down the wrath of the local animal rights crowd, who think Capuchins are too smart or too dangerous (pick one) to be service animals. This leads to a downbeat third act where Nate and his mom fight back against an attempt to legislate Gigi out of his life.

Diane Ladd plays Nate’s grandmother, a feisty Southern type who’s always there to lend a quip and a helping hand, except when she’s taking her afternoon naps. Welker White is appropriately hiss-able as the mean lady leading the fight to ban Gigi. Deja Dee is the helpful advocate from CEBUS who put Nate and Gigi together.

There are a lot of things to like about “Gigi & Nate.” Rowe is a solid, empathetic presence as Nate, and manages to make us like him even when he’s getting a swollen head. (That pun was unintended, but I like it enough that I’m leaving it in.) Langford also gets a few sharp scenes as the headstrong sister, the sort who works to seem hard-hearted but only to hide the gold therein.

I had low expectations for “Gigi & Nate,” which were met. It’s an agreeable, amiable movie that knows what it is and doesn’t try to be something else. You will coo at Gigi and tear up when Nate falters, hope for the best for them, and leave full of carefully orchestrated feels.