Rosamund Pike nearly pulls off the perfect scam in I Care a Lot, and that’s exactly why the 2021 Netflix thriller still splits audiences down the middle. For nearly two hours, her character, who basically steals from old people for a living, pulls out all the stops, convincing strangers, judges, and even a significant section of viewers that she’s the hero of her own story. It’s a setup that shouldn’t work, but it does somehow, right up until the moment it doesn’t.
That split reaction between admiration and discomfort is the whole engine of the movie. Director J Blakeson created a dark comedy built around a scam that’s far more real than most viewers realized going in, then wrapped things up in a way that left half the audience mildly satisfied, while the other half are in a state of blind rage. So buckle up, because Marla’s con, the system she’s milking, and that gut-punch ending all deserve a second look.
Rosamund Pike Plays A Villain So Good At Her Job, You Almost Forget She’s The Bad Guy
Villains like Pike’s Marla Grayson don’t come around too often. She barely raised her voice, and never appeared under pressure, even when it seemed the walls were closing in. To her credit, Pike played her like the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and that calm composure distinguished her from a run-of-the-mill con artist. The woman literally told a judge at one point, “I’m a guardian. That’s what we do. We take responsibility.” And she did it without breaking a sweat.
Not surprisingly, people compared Marla to Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, especially because Pike played both characters. And yes, there are similarities. Both of them can sell refrigerators to Eskimos with a straight face. The key difference, though, is that when push comes to shove, Amy improvises and reacts. Marla, on the other hand, was always three steps ahead of everyone else for large portions of the film.
Early in the film, she destroys an opposing lawyer twice her age and experience with the calmness of a deadly sniper. And she barely glanced at her notes in the process. That’s the move of someone who’s done this rodeo before and knows exactly how it ends. Another key component of Pike’s performance is that Marla doesn’t get a pathetic backstory or a tearful monologue designed to help audiences understand why she does the things she does. She’s just depicted as this efficient, ruthless predator who made audiences root for her because of how competent she is.
The Scam At The Center Of I Care a Lot Is Disturbingly Real, And That’s The Point
The entire “steal grandma’s house through legal paperwork” sounds like something a screenwriter cooked up from a fever dream until the viewer learns that it’s quite real. Director Blakeson himself confirmed that the idea for the movie came from real news stories about predatory guardians who unduly take advantage of the people they’re supposed to protect. One case in particular eerily matches Marla’s playbook. In 2019, a Nevada guardian named April Parks was convicted on over 100 counts of perjury, plus theft, elder exploitation, and racketeering charges.
Knowing that this happened in real life changes how viewers see Marla’s schemes. She literally says in the movie, “It’s a business. I’m providing a service.” And the sick joke is that she’s not wrong because the system told her it’s alright to do it. Once a guardian is appointed, the person under “care” basically loses the wheel. They lose say over where they live, what they eat, who can visit them, and worse still, their own money. Fighting it requires a legal battle most families can’t afford.
The film shows this happening to Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), who goes from living in her own to being locked in a facility, drugged up, and told her lawyer is “unavailable.” Meanwhile, there’s Mr. Feldstrom (Macon Blair), the guy fighting tooth and nail just to see his own mom. The movie keeps shoving him to the background while Marla’s empire grows, and that imbalance isn’t an accident. It’s the whole point of the movie.
I Care a Lot Ending Does What Most Crime Films Won’t, And Splits Audiences Right Down The Middle
The ending of this film remains one of the most polarizing movie endings in modern history. Primarily because the film refused to deliver the classic “villain gets caught” ending that many viewers basically hoped for. Instead, it takes a hard U-turn when Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage), the mob-connected son of one of Marla’s victims, figures out what she’s done to his mother.
After a rather failed attempt to get his pound of flesh, he offers to go into business with her. Turn her guardianship hustle into a nationwide company under her name. Of course, she said yes, and before long she’s on magazine covers and morning shows, living her absolute best life.
Then, in maybe ten seconds flat, it all comes crashing down. Walking out of a glossy TV interview, Marla gets shot by Feldstrom, who tells her his mom died alone in Marla’s care without ever getting to say goodbye. She dies in girlfriend Fran’s arms (Eiza González), and the credits roll before anyone gets to feel good about it.
That rather abrupt ending has remained a source of debate amongst fans and critics. Some argue that it’s a cop-out, as the movie chickened out of giving Marla a real reckoning. Others think it’s the only honest ending, since letting her “win” clean would’ve turned the whole thing into a victory lap for capitalism. Either way, nobody walks away neutral, and that’s clearly what Blakeson was going for.
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