Featuring some fabulous performances from Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage, I Care A Lot manages to become the equivalent of watching a car crash happen in front of you. It’s absolutely horrific to witness, yet, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot look away.
Featuring some fabulous performances from Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage, I Care A Lot manages to become the equivalent of watching a car crash happen in front of you. It’s absolutely horrific to witness, yet, no matter how hard you try, you just cannot look away.
Rosamund Pike plays Marla Grayson, a crooked court-appointed legal guardian who prays off the elderly by stripping them of their rights and livelihood. She and her business partner/lover Fran, portrayed by Eiza Gonzalez, slowly do away with their senior clients’ possessions, making sure to profit handsomely in the process. This operation runs like a well-oiled machine until their latest “victim” Jennifer Peterson, who appears to have no family or friends, becomes a lot more than Marla can handle.
I must admit, the plot of this Netflix film makes me sick to my stomach. It’s shocking to watch Marla essentially lock up these defenseless folks with dementia, even making sure their families somehow didn’t have access to them, so that she could keep everything for herself. Watching I Care A Lot is a truly unpleasant viewing experience. So, if you’re looking for a film to lift your spirits, please avoid this one at all costs.
I Care A Lot appears to be on a mission to frustrate viewers to the point of my moods constantly shifting from anger, a dash of happiness, and then all of sudden, some truly menacing groans because the film started off well, and then took a turn that made me cock my head to the side in sheer anger. I was going along with the sinister plot, up until the showdown between Marla and Roman. I Care A Lot takes some leaps in logic and execution when seemingly grounded characters suddenly have incredible timing and abilities most secret agents can only dream of. While this did fashion a wild third act, it didn’t quite fit with the rest of the movie for me personally. It helped me understand why Rosamund Pike referred to herself as a lioness and her main character’s motivation is to eat or be eaten. It helped me forgive writer/director J. Blakeson’s crazy third act.
Correct me if I am wrong. But, if you’re in the trafficking game and one wrong move or witness could derail your whole operation, wouldn’t you see everything through, just to make sure that nothing could possibly ruin what you have going? I know you need a plot device to keep a movie going, but I would’ve gone in a different direction. You will see what I mean when you watch the film.
I always felt that Rosamund Pike was robbed at the Academy Awards for her performance as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. I Care A Lot sees her reconnecting with Oscar calibur acting and I must say, she is devilishly good. She managed to make Marla Grayson so repulsive that I began hoping she would suffer for everything we witness her do in the film. Simultaneously, I was also in awe of this woman because no matter what you did to her, she would always come out on top. Now sporting a glorious beard and fresh off of the dumpster fire that was the Game of Thrones Finale, Peter Dinklage achieves the impossible by making sure I felt nothing but hatred for his character Roman Lunyov as well. Their performances were both vile and grotesque. For that, everyone and the rest of the cast deserve a round of applause for their work because it couldn’t have been easy to pull that off.
Overall, I feel like I need a hot shower after watching I Care A Lot. This film found a way to keep the comedy pitch black throughout, and despite everything I mentioned earlier, I Care A Lot has a way of getting under your skin and keeping you engaged for the entire runtime, and I seriously enjoyed the performances from the cast. These two elements are the saving grace of keeping its score positive. The movie’s message will no doubt frustrate many, myself included, but I believe that was the intention of the filmmaker. The reason it’s so aggravating is because being evil appears to get you everything and I Care A Lot is a shining example. Anti-heroes are some of my all-time favourite characters in movies, tv, shows and novels, but in this case, these characters are too unlikeable to root for and now that I have seen the movie, I look forward to never watching it again.
CHILL AND WATCH
CHILL AND WATCH 