Grade: B
Though I quite enjoyed Promising Young Woman, and Carey Mulligan was no slouch, I couldn’t help but think it was a role that Rosamund Pike would have nailed. Those wanting to get a Pike fix can get it in spades with her starring role in I Care a Lot, an Amazon original that dropped on Netflix and Prime Video recently. She plays Marla Grayson, who runs the racket of being a court-appointed guardian for unsuspecting senior citizens. Through cunning legal loopholes, she is able to assume the position of legal guardian to elderly people who have been deemed mentally unfit to live alone, and have them hastily committed to care facilities, while she drains them of all their assets. As you would suspect, if you’ve seen Rosamund Pike in any previous roles (particularly Gone Girl), she is perfectly cast here, and carries the film with the captivating poise of Sharon Stone’s best roles in the 90s. She recently won the Golden Globe for this, and on the morning of March 15, we’ll see if she is carried over to Oscar consideration. I would also give a Supporting Actress nomination to Dianne Wiest, an old pro who is just marvelous here as Marla’s latest victim. She shows lots of range in her smaller role, and can be downright chilling. Her dialogue scenes with Pike are highlights of the film.
Without revealing how and why, we find out that Wiest’s character has connections to the Russian mob, led by Peter Dinklage as the boss. He provided me with the biggest laugh of the movie, in a scene where he is walking through a crowded lobby and covers up his face so the security cameras can’t identify him – as if the face were the only way you could spot Peter Dinklage in a crowd.
The supporting cast also includes nice notable work by Eiza Gonzalez as Marla’s girlfriend, and Alicia Witt as Marla’s doctor friend who supplies her with these “leads” in exchange for a cut of the action. I Care a Lot is part dark comedy, part socio-political statement, and then turns into a straight-up action crime thriller in its final act. There is a fun unexpected turn at the end, with a sudden twist that happens from that turn, which might not be so unexpected for you. Characters seem to survive too much, and when the action ramps up, the screenplay factory supplies us with the usual type of lines I doubt people would say in real life in these situations. Still, though, I Care a Lot is snappy and entertaining, with a viciously riveting lead performance and a superb supporting ensemble that elevates the material to make it work slightly better than it has a right to. As TV movies go, this is as good as any.
Grade: B
Film Reviews by Mark 
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