I Care a Lot review: Rosamund Pike is deliciously devious

Where several late 90s and early oughts films like American Psycho and Fight Club helped to establish a subgenre of films centered around the dry, edgy, uber-cool, morally grey male film protagonist, the 2010s (and now 2020s) seem to be using a new, feminine take on this archetype – the girlboss.

Films like Gone Girl and Midsommar are ushering in a new era for mainstream female protagonists, one in which they can achieve the same cult following and moral ambiguity as their male counterparts do. This is thanks in large part to Rosamund Pike’s now-iconic turn as Amy Dunne in the aforementioned Gone Girl. In her newest film, I Care a Lot, Pike once again thrills as the type of deliciously devious antihero you love to hate, making the film well worth a watch, even if its script may ultimately leave something to be desired.

Starring Pike, Eiza González, Dianne Weist, and Peter Dinklage, I Care a Lot follows the story of Marla Grayson (Pike), a sharp but morally crooked woman who takes advantage of the elderly by taking custody of them as their state-appointed guardian, and turning around and bleeding them financially dry. Marla’s scam is running smoothly with the help of her girlfriend Fran (González) and a corrupt doctor (Alicia Witt) when she sets her sights on Jennifer Peterson (Weist), an elderly woman with no living relatives and a significant fortune – seemingly, the perfect target.

However, Marla and Fran quickly realize that Peterson isn’t the unassuming woman that she seems to be – unbeknownst to them, she has ties to a powerful Russian mobster (Dinklage), and what started out as a typical scam becomes a dangerous game of chicken to see who will fold under pressure first.

I Care a Lot isn’t based on a novel, but it certainly feels like it could be – the screenplay by J Blakeson (who also directed and produced the film) moves at a breakneck pace – full of twist after twist – and at times, feels very much like a larger idea condensed into just one film for the sake of time. Though the film isn’t exactly short (clocking in at just under two hours) it certainly feels that way – it’s incredibly economic with its timing, and although the first hour takes the necessary slower route to establish the world of the film and its characters, once I Care a Lot hits the forty-five-minute mark, it breaks into a sprint and doesn’t stop.

For the most part, the film’s many twists and turns work very well. If you’ve seen Uncut Gems (a film to which I Care a Lot very much feels like a spiritual successor) then you may be able to predict the ending, but the rest of the plot developments are well-established without being telegraphed or easy to see coming.

Though at some points we couldn’t help but feel like things were a little too easy for Marla and Fran – after all, they’re just two moderately wealthy women of above-average intelligence going up against the Russian Mob – it’s not so egregiously easy that it actively impacted our enjoyment of the film, so much as it made us think about what we would’ve done if we were in Dinklage’s shoes.

It’s not the narrative or plot where we have trouble with I Care a Lot – no, it’s the dialogue and tone that makes us question just how self-aware the film really is. There are moments where the movie feels very deliberate and clearly self-aware – Jennifer Peterson in particular has a few stellar moments where she’s saying exactly what we wanted to towards Marla. The film also serves a scalding critique of the vacuum of greed created by capitalism, as well as a condemnation of the massive loopholes and failings of the American government’s inability to properly care for its most elderly citizens.

But as biting as those moments are, they often come on the heels of the film’s more base tendencies – which is to veer sharply in the direction of ‘Girlboss’ feminism. From Marla’s obnoxiously large, nearly phallic dab pen to her ham-fisted dialogue about threatening to rip a man’s “dick and balls” off, it’s difficult to place whether the film is intentionally poking fun at Girlboss feminism and female empowerment tied to capitalism, or if it’s falling into those traps itself.

Unquestionable, though, is Pike’s performance as Marla Grayson – a star turn to effective and well-cast that you may not be able to look at Rosamund Pike again without wanting to punch her in the face. It’s a difficult line to walk when playing a character the audience isn’t quite supposed to root for or against, but Pike never falters here – she delivers every line with a vapid viciousness that makes her entirely believable as the type of woman who would turn down a $150,000 bribe purely because she doesn’t like to lose. Between the blunt bob, the neatly-pressed menswear-inspired outfits, and the constant infuriating smirk on her face, Pike sells the role of Marla with an abundance of gusto.

Similarly stellar is Dianne Weist, who makes ample use of her somewhat limited screen time. Though it’s a tough act to follow Pike’s all-in portrayal of Marla, whenever Weist is in a scene, she commands the room – a feat considering that towards the end of the film, her character is so hopped up on meds she barely has any dialogue at all. But when she does speak it’s with flawless, vicious delivery that makes her the perfect match to the more outspoken and quick-witted Marla – they’re a pair of perfect opposites that make for riveting tension, and our only complaint is that towards the film’s back half, Weist’s role in the film is basically usurped by Dinklage’s.

Dinklage himself is serviceable as Russian mobster Roman Lunyov, though he’s introduced later than we might’ve liked, and his entry in the film (as we mentioned) drains screen time from the far more interesting Jennifer. Roman leaves a little to be desired in terms of character depth – though Dinklage does his best to bring life to the figure, he’s a fairly cut-and-dry stock mobster, but with a few modern quirks (like a penchant for donuts, smoothies, and gymnastics) thrown into the mix.

Similarly lacking in depth is Eiza González’s Fran – who the secondary protagonist and love interest, who has so little to do that she could’ve been cut from the movie altogether. Her presence in the film is certainly welcome – González has an easy charm and biting wit that makes her magnetic wherever she goes, and we’re always happy to see more queer representation – especially in a genre-like thriller where LGBTQ+ characters don’t frequently shine. But Fran serves as little more than a sidekick or a pawn whenever the stakes need to be heightened for Marla – and the shallowness of the character can’t be helped by González’s performance, try as she might to inject life into what is a fairly flat role.

We also would’ve liked more screen time for Chris Messina’s flashily-suited lawyer Dean Ericson – who poses a threat to Marla early in the film, but falls off the map once things really get heated. Like Weist, he’s a scene-stealer wherever he pops up, but it’s such a small role for a talent like Messina it almost feels like a waste to have him in the film at all.

While at times we had trouble determining just how much of the film’s Girlboss-isms were tongue in cheek vs how much was genuine, I Care a Lot sticks the landing. Despite some troubles with character and dialogue, I Care a Lot is an incredibly refreshing and effective thriller with a biting sense of humor and an unyielding pace that will keep even the most discerning of viewers on their toes until its final seconds.

Have you seen I Care a Lot yet? Sound off in the comments.