I Care A Lot(2021)- Review
“Are you a lamb or a lion?”
Most con movies are based on this simple principle of animals, eat or be eaten, showcasing the protagonist as a highly ambitious unempathetic person who will stop at no end to complete their con; to game the system, breaking rules and laws. While most of the general characteristics meet with the protagonist of I Care A Lot, Marla Grayson (Rosamund Pike), but she does her grifts in line with the system and the laws. The scam is simple yet brilliant. Marla finds naïve elderly clients who have considerable assets and wealth. After spotting these potential clients, she convinces the court to grant her guardianship of these elderly people, on the grounds that they cannot function well by themselves. After being appointed their guardian she racks up money by utilizing their assets. The business is going well and Marla is enjoying life with her girlfriend and business partner Fran (Eiza Gonzalez). But the story gets less colorful when she ends up taking charge of a woman who seemed a simple catch but turned out to have dangerous connections.
Firstly, writer and director Jonathan Blakeson should be commended for his ingenuity in whipping up a great story. While he may have gotten inspiration from real events, there still would have been a lot of work making the perfect story. Both Pike and Peter Dinklage do a satisfactory job playing protagonist and antagonist respectively. A lot of times in the genre of movies there is a good bit of overlap between stories and can easily be related to another making it predictable. In that aspect, I Care A Lot most certainly does a stellar job making the viewer guessing what’s coming next; easily grabbing any viewer’s attention.
The characters are well created and portrayed; however, both the leading characters are quite peculiar in fact very very unusual. This often works in favor of the film, but here I don’t think it does. Pike does a good job but still, I think she was not the perfect casting for the role, as I did before watching the movie. The music and background score was disappointing, there is a lot that could have been done there. Lastly, it eludes me as to how is the movie classified under the comedy genre, I don’t even see it as being under the dark comedy tag. But Rosamund Pike has won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, beats me.
All in all, it is a good movie when compared to other movies on the same lines of heist/con movies. If you are a fan of such movies don’t hesitate to pick up, I Care A Lot it won’t disappoint. For others too it will at least be an interesting watch keeping in mind the movie was created with real-life incidents inspiring the story.
Acting- 8
Casting- 7
Cinematography- 8
Dialogue- 7.5
Directing- 7.5
Editing & Effects- 6
Sound & Music- 6.5
Story- 9
Storytelling- 7.5
Rating- 7.5
Available on: Netflix+Amazon Prime