I Care A Lot is about Terrible People Doing Terrible Things to Each Other
Make no mistake, Rosamund Pike is vile in I Care a Lot. Not only is her character, Marla Grayson, a ruthless hustler who preys on the elderly and swindles them for all their worth under the pretense of caring for them, she is also confident and outspoken, a feminist (and a lesbian) who believes that she is sticking it to the man and carving out her own version of the American Dream. Throughout the film, you expect Marla to get her comeuppance. But I Care a Lot toys with your expectations and feelings, painting a world where not only the good are taken advantage of, but where even the bad people are outsmarted by more determined individuals.
Marla finds a promising new client in the form of Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), who lives on her own in retirement and seemingly has no kids. Marla gets Jennifer’s doctor to testify in court that she needs legal guardianship and swoops into Jennifer’s home, smothering her with smiles and platitudes as she is carted away to an inpatient facility. Soon, however, a sleazy lawyer (Chris Messina) pops up claiming to represent dangerous people who were concerned about Peterson. Marla needs only to have the doctor attest that Peterson didn’t need any guardianship, and she would be paid handsomely for it. Marla, of course, has discovered a hidden cache of diamonds in the meanwhile, so…
