by Christopher James
Rosamund Pike cares a lot, not about her elderly wards, but about winning.Music and The Mauritanian weren’t the only movies that showed up at the Golden Globes without people having seen the film. Rosamund Pike nabbed a nomination in the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy for the Netflix film I Care A Lot, which some critics saw during the Toronto International Film Festival. The Globes have long loved Rosamund Pike, even nominating her for A Private War in 2018. Is this latest nomination a case of the Globes being goofy, or is Pike awards worthy in this new black comedy?
The answer is yes and no on both fronts. Pike uses “Amazing Amy” ability to establish a horrifying, gleefully bloodthirsty businesswoman who fleeces the elderly. Unfortunately, she does so in a vehicle that points that talent in the exact wrong directions...
The kernel of an amazing, dark idea gets burnt by a script stuffed with too many plot elements and an inconsistent tone. There’s something to writer/director J Blakeson’s vision that feels like Steven Soderbergh’s sensibilities mixed with the Coen Brothers wild narrative swings.
Unfortunately, I Care a Lot is a swing and a miss.
Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) extracts great pleasure from her schemes, even if it ruins the lives of many elderly patients.
In a world of lions and lambs, Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) informs us right off the bat that she is a lioness, and she never loses. Marla’s get rich quick scheme is simple and ruthless. She works with doctors to find elderly patients with early signs of dementia or any other debilitating condition. From there, she works with the court to become their state appointed guardian. This allows her and her girlfriend, Fran (Eiza Gonzalez), to put that elderly person in a retirement home (that she has also cut a deal with) while she sells off all their assets and pockets the change for herself.
One of her doctor contacts informs Marla she has a “cherry,” an wealthy elderly woman with no family and no attachments. Marla gleefully takes hup the opportunity to steal this woman’s independence and drain her of her money. She shows up at the house of said “cherry,” Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) with police in tow, presenting court papers stating that she’s now in the care of Marla. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jennifer is taken to a retirement home and stripped of her cell phone. Marla didn’t count on one thing (okay many things). Jennifer is still very with it and is prepared to fight back.
Quick! Who would win in a menacing stare-off - Rosamund Pike or Two Time Oscar Winner Dianne Wiest?
Filmmakers can get away with a lot in black comedies. This is why concrete tone and perspective are so critical. In the first act, the drama is focused squarely on a villainous Goliath, in the form of Marla, underestimating their David, the old yet steely Jennifer. While Marla is good at being bad, there’s the sense that she may have met her match in Jennifer. Pike and Wiest have a crackling adversarial chemistry. Wiest gives a perfect line reading as she chuckles, “Ooooo, you’re in trouble now” while Marla viciously vapes while describing her plan. Just like in Let Them All Talk, Wiest makes every moment her own, giving unexpected line readings and making confident acting choices that always take one by surprise. She never goes for the cliched choices or makes us laugh at Jennifer. Instead, she displays a confidence behind her sunny smile. She believes she’ll get out, so we as an audience root for her success.
Here’s where things go awry, not just for Marla, but for the movie. It turns out Jennifer Peterson is more than meets the eye. Menacing Russian gangsters, led by Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage), are determined to break Jennifer out at all costs. Kidnapping, gunfight standoffs and other acts of violence turn I Care a Lot into a thriller with people on both sides you don’t care that much about. What started as a Ladykillers-esque comic showdown between Pike and Wiest morphs into something uglier and more generic.
Peter Dinklage and his motley band of Russian gangsters cause Rosamund Pike (and the audience) a lot of grief in "I Care A Lot."
When the script stacks the deck with the Russian mob, suddenly it pits Marla as David going up against an even bigger, more ruthless crime syndicate Goliath. Both Pike and Blakeson have done such a good job making Marla deliciously hateable that it’s hard to make the necessary shift onto her side for the second half of the film. The way she profits off her elder abuse and strips them of their agency is diabolical and horrendous. Especially in the wake of the conservator discussion around Framing Brittney Spears, the idea of having a “third party” dictate your affairs is frightening beyond belief. It passes the point where she can be redeemed or where an audience can get onto her side. So why try? Why not lean into Pike’s gifts as a charismatic crocodile and let her vamp it up to the rafters until she meets her demise.
There’s a lot of promise and talent involved in I Care A Lot. There are tons of great people in small supporting roles too, such as Chris Messina as an attorney who is nearly as slimy as Marla is. It’s unfortunate that a critical wrong turn in the narrative derails this potentially ripe, yet tricky premise. The laughs may be present in the set-up, but the thrills are not there in the end. With false endings galore, you might find yourself not really caring a lot about how everything turns out. C-
I Care A Lot premieres on Netflix this Friday, February 19th.