NETWORK FRAIL
ROSAMUND PIKE’S CON ARTIST CEO BITES OFF MORE THAN SHE CAN CHEW WHEN SHE SCAMS ONE ELDERLY PERSON TOO MANY IN THIS FINE THRILLER
GONE GIRL goes bad, despicably bad, in J Blakeson’s lipsmacking thriller , which is a portrait of unremitting cruelty and greed. Anchored by an incendiary lead performance from Rosamund Pike as a selfanointed “lioness” in a cut-throat world of apex predators, I Care A Lot is a chilling portrait of profitdriven villainy, which conceals a distorted Machiavellian grin behind the pristine public facade of a guardian angel in designer threads.
“There’s no such thing as good people,” professes Pike’s morally corrupt anti-heroine in a prosaic voiceover monologue set to Death In Vegas’ haunting Dirge.
That’s unquestionably true of the rogues gallery of misfits, opportunists and thugs who swarm in Blakeson’s lean and gleefully mean-spirited script.
Everyone is working an angle, some more successfully and ruthlessly than others, and when the end credits roll on a disconcertingly loopy and hare-brained second act, it’s a satisfyingly messy final hurrah that refuses to pander to crowdpleasing sentimentality.
The American Dream
– to be rich, successful and in control – is warped into a living nightmare, which can legally remove elderly citizens from their homes and seize control of their assets.
Marla Grayson
(Pike) is the founder and CEO of Grayson Guardianships who repeatedly petitions judges to grant her custody of frail, vulnerable people to prevent them from becoming a burden in their twilight years.
Testimony from Dr Karen Amos (Alicia Witt) confirms the early signs of dementia and seals each prospective ward’s fate.
In truth, Marla is a sharpsuited con artist who makes her money by selling off her
victims’ homes once they are heavily sedated at expensive living facilities and unable to defend themselves.
Marla unknowingly goes from hunter to prey when she turns up at the front door of Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest) brandishing a court order.
As the elderly homeowner becomes another cash cow for Marla and partner Fran (Eiza Gonzalez) to milk dry, lawyer Dean Ericson (Chris Messina) arrives unannounced at the Grayson office with a stern warning.
Ms Peterson has powerful friends. If Marla continues to hold Jennifer against her will, there will be consequences.
“You’re in trouble now,” cackles Jennifer in a heavily medicated haze as her protector (Peter Dinklage) initiates a campaign of terror against the co-conspirators.
I Care A Lot conceals more than one satisfying sting in the tail as Marla fights for survival.