Review
I Care a Lot (Comedy, Crime) (2020)
Director: Jonathan Blakeson
Writer: Jonathan Blakeson
Stars: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest
Leading an underhanded embezzlement scam against the elderly, legal guardian Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is getting away with draining the elderly’s funds into her own account by selling their property and taking their funds. At the same time, they’re being held in an elderly home under hefty surveillance. The loopholes in the law Marla has used never failed her, that is until she tries to trick the wrong family.
The subject matter in ‘’I Care a Lot’’ is bound to be taken the wrong way; everyone would agree that taking advantage of elders is undoubtedly one of the lowest things you can do, and I don’t think this movie embellishes that in any way. It’s a dark comedy with the intention of rubbing people the wrong way, the fact that throughout the film, you’d love to punch Rosamund Pike in the face only establishes the fact that she is playing the role of the anti-hero/villain to an excellent degree.
Taking some distance from the characters in the film, I have to admit the plot can be challenging to grasp at the very beginning, seemingly weaved in American bureaucracy before it becomes abundantly clear that it is simply a thickly shrouded scheme. The comedic legal nature of the film has interesting features. Still, without any redeemable characters, the interest wains off; there is no underdog or hero in this story; every single character is rotten to the core. At the same time, that might be a lovely depiction of society nowadays it creates a void of resistance or refusal, leaving the viewer with a plot that is quite farfetched, flowing too smoothly towards its ending, an ending which could be seen as satisfying but at that point the question is if you even care.
The aforementioned role of Marla Grayson (Rosemund Pike) is inspiring, and characters like Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) and Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage) make for good depictions. Yet, without anything or anyone to root for, it becomes listless. The scenario of the court making wrong decisions and some horrible deeds slipping through the cracks is realistic but going as far as ‘’I Care a Lot’’ does, is a major stretch, even if it’s serving a comedic script.
Verdict
I Care a Little.
5,3
