Rosamund Pike is back to her ‘Gone Girl’ tricks in ‘I Care a Lot’
Netflix/Courtesy
Last Updated February 23, 2021
Grade: 3.0/5.0
Rosamund Pike’s turn as icy sociopath Amy Dunne in “Gone Girl” was, as the kids say, a “cultural reset.” Her “I Care a Lot” character, Marla Grayson, enables Pike to revisit the mold she forged in 2014, as another blonde-bobbed antiheroine who plays out her deplorable schemes with impressively smooth cruelty.
Marla’s con is guardianship — she convinces a court to appoint her as an elderly person’s legal conservator on the pretense of fabricated symptoms. Once the documents are signed, she’s free to lock up her wards in an assisted living facility and bleed their assets dry. The operation is easier than you’d expect; just a couple of accomplices in the doctor’s office and the retirement home equip Marla with the tools to steer the legal system with remarkable ease. It’s only when Marla and her girlfriend Fran (Eiza González) go after apparently unattached cash cow Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) that the scheme hits a roadblock. Turns out Jennifer is secretly related to a Russian mob boss (Peter Dinklage), and he’s now out for Marla’s blood.