I Care a Lot

 

Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is a scammer who conspires with an equally crooked doctor (Alicia Witt) to get seniors declared incompetent and herself appointed their legal guardian. After transferring them to a nursing home, she gradually sells off their assets and pockets the proceeds. Marla and her partner Fran (Eliza Gonzalez) find seemingly the perfect target in Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), but it turns out their mark is the mother of a dangerous gangster (Peter Dinklage) who is none too pleased to learn of the deception.

 

Writer/director J Blakeson’s attempt to combine dark comedy, social commentary, and crime thriller isn’t particularly successful on any of those fronts, but it does feature a magnetic lead performance. Recalling her earlier work in Gone Girl, Pike is again convincing as a ruthless serpentine narcissist schemer. Marla is loathsome yet impressively implacable and efficient.

 

While Pike is the standout here and has plenty to work with, several of her castmates make do with limited opportunities. Dinklage tries to rise above his underwritten part and is still able to convey so much with a simple facial expression. Similarly, Jennifer’s journey from overwhelmed sad sack to threat-barking quasi-prisoner is a testament to Wiest’s range.

 

Unfortunately, weak writing and an uneven tone undermine all of their efforts. From the beginning, I Care a Lot plays fast and loose with the very real issue of elder abuse with Isiah Whitlock as a judge either too gullible or too corrupt to be believed. However, Marla’s manipulations are artful enough to distract us from these contrivances. Even they cannot salvage the film’s second half, which morphs into an action movie, takes a turn toward the even more improbable, and ends on a cliched and heavy-handed note.

 

Viewed holistically, I Care a Lot tries and fails to do what Better Call Saul has been able to pull off for several seasons: make viewers care about an amoral manipulator while upping the stakes without losing a comedic edge. Watch this movie for Pike’s devilish turn as Marla, but be prepared to be disappointed otherwise.