I CARE A LOT
OUT 19 FEBRUARY PRIME VIDEO
Rosamund Pike helps the aged… to lose their money.
Welcome back, Amy! Rosamund Pike taps into the chilling detachment she essayed in Gone Girl in this horribly fun thriller from The Disappearance Of Alice Creed writer/director J Blakeson – and it’s like watching an apex predator do its mercilessly efficient thing.
Pike plays Marla Grayson, a courtapproved legal guardian who takes on the care and funds of those deemed unable to look after themselves. In her hands it’s a ruthless racket involving back-handing doctors and care homes, where wealthy OAPs are stripped of their rights, with their assets and cash commandeered. But Marla’s latest mark Jennifer (Dianne Wiest) proves to have family (Peter Dinklage) that she really shouldn’t mess with…
There are no ‘good guys’ in Blakeson’s giddily remorseless romp. The writer/ director positions Marla as the American Dream gone gonzo, a woman crafting an empire using the same zeal and determination often admired in male CEOs. In Pike’s hands she’s almost admirable in her ability to turn any situation to her advantage. But while Blakeson plays with ideas of gender and heteronormative expectations as well as the flawed US healthcare system, this isn’t an issues movie dressed up in black humour. It’s more an entertaining exercise in equal-opportunities nihilism that could read as empty or surgically smart, depending on your compassion index. Jane Crowther