"I Care A Lot" gave me so much freaking anxiety
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I like Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage a lot, and I’ve certainly come down with a big’ol Dianne Wiest infection from time to time, so I was excited to watch I Care A Lot, a new comedy/thriller that’s on Amazon Prime in Canada, but I think is on Netflix elsewhere? Not sure why that happened but here we are. Anyway, it’s a good movie, but damn, it sent my anxiety through the roof.
Pike plays Marla Grayson, a “professional guardian” who is supposed to take over the care and finances of elderly people who can no longer look after themselves, but in reality is scheming with doctors and nursing homes to isolate perfectly capable people in these homes and then stealing all their money. But then Marla targets the wrong woman, Jennifer (Wiest), and ends up in the sights of a very unhappy Russian mobster (Dinklage).
Now, it wasn’t the “oh shit the Russian mob is after us” part that gave me the anxiety — that’s just typical movie stuff. No, it was the all-too-believable sequence in which Marla and her co-conspirators manage to pull off their scheme and how powerless Jennifer is to stop it. An emergency hearing is called (without Jennifer present or even notifying her), a bribed doctor testifies that Jennifer can’t look after herself, an easily swayed judge grants the order, and BOOM! Marla can now usher Jennifer into a nursing home and prevent her from contacting anyone (she can also specify her drug regimen and level of care), and she can sell off all of her belongings.
And of course it’s believable, because it actually happens, and it’s fucking terrifying. Especially because not all of us have scary Russian mobsters for children who will do anything to free us.
That said, Pike is the perfect antihero that you want to see fail, even as it’s obvious she’s resourceful and determined as hell. Dinklage is also great as usual, and they are equal foes who have equal ability to take the other one down.
While the ending is somewhat satisfying, it’s also still completely horrifying, because guardianship scams will still continue to happen. Fingers crossed my doctor can’t be bribed like that against me one day.
I Care A Lot is on Netflix or Amazon Prime or who the fuck knows, just look it up.
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That’s all for me today, gorgeous! Talk to you soon.
Love,
Kat
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