A head strong business lady who believes that being rich is the be all and end all of life, creates a business venture which dupes unsuspecting elderly people to sign off all their worldly possessions to a care giver and then profits from the sale. Events take a turn for the worse when they nab the wrong kind of old lady.
There something to be said about movies with anti-heroes who scheme their way through the story. Movies like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wild Things and The Last Seduction come to mind when we think of female led movies with characters who scheme and manipulate the world around them. However, to succeed in making a "con gone wrong" movie requires a deft touch from the director, a witty script that fools the audience as well as the characters in the movie and a premise that is half plausible. We have to believe that the lead character has planned their actions five moves ahead like a grand chess master.
Now, the problem with "I care a lot", is not that the lead characters are NOT smart, nor that their plan is somehow flawed, but it is simply that the audience has to believe that the "world" is stupid. Also it hangs its story on the belief that simply being determined to "not lose" is enough to get you through life. This is just a few of the many flaws inherent is this movie, as the world painted is not one that the main character has to navigate or con her way through, but her path is strewn with idiots who clear a way for her to succeed. Take for example the slick lawyer, who is so slick he walks away from a negotiation, then there is the Supreme Court judge who after being in court with her at the beginning for a complaint from a concerned family member rules in her favour. Then is called on again halfway through the movie for an identical trial with a similar accusation and again hands her the case, and then a third time.
Add to this the Russian mafia. Yes, I said it, the Russian mafia. In this movie world we have to believe that the Russian mafia are also inept at what they do. Now, Russian mafia (or any mafia for that instance) is usually a short hand in cinema for instant trouble, usually signifying death. As any mafia movie can attest, once the mafia are involved all negotiations are off the table and some mild mannered headstrong business lady is quite frankly a blip on the radar. Now our lead character doesn't out smart the mafia, she out mafia them. She goes full Jason Bourne on them.
The most interesting scenes in the movie come when Rosamund Pike's character has her conversations with Dianne Wiest character, here you can see both actors doing a lot more with a shaky script then the movie deserves, and you begin to see the conflict in the two women, but the biggest crime in this movie is how it wastes Dianne Wiest, leaving her as a side character in a movie in need of some real substance.
The music is also confused, as the heavy synth tends to favour our protagonist, but the line between hero and villain is already so thinly veiled that at many points I'm rooting for the mafia.
Did you notice something there, it sounds like I'm talking about two different movies right? One a satirical jab at the care givers industry in America and another a Mafia hit gone wrong movie...well that's what this is, and the parts just don't add up.
The problem inherent in this movie are that the seams of the movie are too obviously stitched and the viewer is left thinking, "that wouldn't happen". Which is fine in a knock about comedy, but this movie has aspirations of making a larger comment about America and the pursuit of happiness. Well, in America it ain't about just wanting to be rich, you have to out think smarter people, the likes of which will be a lot smarter than the characters portrayed in this movie.
It's a movie with some high aspirations, the business narrative of getting to the top by any means is a good crux to hang your story on, but is somewhat undermined by a mafia movie, which then isn't given time to breath. The two side by side do not compliment one another, as they both pull in different directions.
There something to be said about movies with anti-heroes who scheme their way through the story. Movies like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Wild Things and The Last Seduction come to mind when we think of female led movies with characters who scheme and manipulate the world around them. However, to succeed in making a "con gone wrong" movie requires a deft touch from the director, a witty script that fools the audience as well as the characters in the movie and a premise that is half plausible. We have to believe that the lead character has planned their actions five moves ahead like a grand chess master.
Now, the problem with "I care a lot", is not that the lead characters are NOT smart, nor that their plan is somehow flawed, but it is simply that the audience has to believe that the "world" is stupid. Also it hangs its story on the belief that simply being determined to "not lose" is enough to get you through life. This is just a few of the many flaws inherent is this movie, as the world painted is not one that the main character has to navigate or con her way through, but her path is strewn with idiots who clear a way for her to succeed. Take for example the slick lawyer, who is so slick he walks away from a negotiation, then there is the Supreme Court judge who after being in court with her at the beginning for a complaint from a concerned family member rules in her favour. Then is called on again halfway through the movie for an identical trial with a similar accusation and again hands her the case, and then a third time.
Add to this the Russian mafia. Yes, I said it, the Russian mafia. In this movie world we have to believe that the Russian mafia are also inept at what they do. Now, Russian mafia (or any mafia for that instance) is usually a short hand in cinema for instant trouble, usually signifying death. As any mafia movie can attest, once the mafia are involved all negotiations are off the table and some mild mannered headstrong business lady is quite frankly a blip on the radar. Now our lead character doesn't out smart the mafia, she out mafia them. She goes full Jason Bourne on them.
The most interesting scenes in the movie come when Rosamund Pike's character has her conversations with Dianne Wiest character, here you can see both actors doing a lot more with a shaky script then the movie deserves, and you begin to see the conflict in the two women, but the biggest crime in this movie is how it wastes Dianne Wiest, leaving her as a side character in a movie in need of some real substance.
The music is also confused, as the heavy synth tends to favour our protagonist, but the line between hero and villain is already so thinly veiled that at many points I'm rooting for the mafia.
Did you notice something there, it sounds like I'm talking about two different movies right? One a satirical jab at the care givers industry in America and another a Mafia hit gone wrong movie...well that's what this is, and the parts just don't add up.
The problem inherent in this movie are that the seams of the movie are too obviously stitched and the viewer is left thinking, "that wouldn't happen". Which is fine in a knock about comedy, but this movie has aspirations of making a larger comment about America and the pursuit of happiness. Well, in America it ain't about just wanting to be rich, you have to out think smarter people, the likes of which will be a lot smarter than the characters portrayed in this movie.
It's a movie with some high aspirations, the business narrative of getting to the top by any means is a good crux to hang your story on, but is somewhat undermined by a mafia movie, which then isn't given time to breath. The two side by side do not compliment one another, as they both pull in different directions.