I Care a lot.

Caring, sir, is my job, my profession,” says Rosamund Pike, “All I do every day

is care...”

Exactly what Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike) cares about is clear: money, and

the power to do “whatever the fuck we want” that goes with it. To this end, she

has developed a profitable scam that preys upon older people – hijacking their

lives and fortunes by becoming their legal state guardian, and then milking their

assets for all they’re worth.

We watch Marla and her partner and lover, Fran (Eiza González), target their

next victim, Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), a woman of wealth with no family,

living quietly on her own. Despite insisting that she doesn’t need help, Jennifer is

court-ordered out of her house and into the imprisoning corridors of the

Berkshire Oaks retirement home.

Yet for all her apparent vulnerability Jennifer is not quite what she appears. In

fact, she is “the worst mistake you’ll ever make” – a woman with hidden assets

whose disappearance from her home sets alarm bells ringing with people who

can make Marla’s life “very uncomfortable”.

Marla hides behind a smile and she is a sight to behold even when she’s trying

to justify her amorality. Even when she tries to convince us her villainy is born

out of necessity, not want. The fact that Marla and Roman are irredeemable is

part of what makes the movie enjoyable.

Preying on the elderly is no laughing matter, but I Care a Lot proves there's no

topic too grim to glean comedy from.

While you won’t exactly find yourself rooting for her to succeed, you’ll at least be

curious as to whether she can pull off her most outlandish scheme yet. And then

once we realize who Jennifer Peterson really is!

Pike can do anything, and this is her juiciest role since “Gone Girl,” but “I Care a

Lot” becomes less interesting when her character starts allowing emotions like

fear to seep through.

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