I Care a Lot ★★★★

J Blakeson

Starring Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest

Rosamund Pike has had an absolutely stunning career. Time and time again she is not only given interesting characters to play, but she plays them so convincingly that you would put her up there with the likes of Tom Hanks as a solid bet for an enjoyable movie.

That is definitely the case with I Care a Lot, a crime thriller with a dark-comedy edge that's filled with edge, pulp and style. Rosamund's character, Marla Grayson is a court-appointed legal guardian and a fraud; trapping elderly victims in care while she profits from their demise. The first 30 minutes is a tough watch as Marla entraps an unknowing Jennifer Peterson (played by the wicked Dianne Wiest) but things don't turn out as planned.

What at first seems like a timely look at the use of capitalism to profit from the vulnerable, turns into a crime thriller that is a pure roller coaster ride from start to finish. The movie never goes in a direction you expect and is both infuriating and inspiring when the characters subvert the norms. Each scene seems satisfying in some way, with most characters given some juicy dialogue or set-piece to contend with.

Peter Dinklage as Roman Lunyov, is also fantastic here and brings the comedic edge to proceedings. He is both threatening and useless which is great to watch; he also works with Pike wonderfully. However, the final 30 minutes do drag slightly, with the ending not living up to what we'd gone through up to that point. It's difficult to sustain the tension and twists for that long and the fatigue does show slightly.

If you like movies like Gone Girl, you will love I Care a Lot. It's edgy and satisfying but the message is clear: capitalism and the American Dream can be all-consuming and stops for no-one.

I Care a Lot available now on Amazon Prime