User reviews

The first hour of this film is so good that it manages to carry the ridiculous implausibility of its second hour to a satisfactory conclusion. If it had not tried to become "Mission: Impossible" and stayed confined to the small-time grift of elderly care abuse, this would have been one of the best films of the year. However, like the characters in the film, the writer / director gets greedy, and pays for it.

Watched 'I Care a Lot' some weeks back with a lot of anticipation. Really like Peter Dinklage and Rosamund Pike as actors, likewise with Dianne Wiest. All three have been fantastic in other things. The premise was a great and interesting one, if very nasty and one that would make anybody unsettled. The film is also in a genre that has always appealed to me and looked great from the advertising. Even the overwhelming negative ratings here didn't dissuade me from seeing 'I Care a Lot'.

After watching, 'I Care a Lot' is to me not near as bad as has been said here and not deserving of so many of the lowest rating votes that indicates no redeeming qualities, which actually goes against what most of those that have given it that rating have said. Having said that, 'I Care a Lot' did disappoint me and certainly wanted to like so much more. It is a film of two halves, one being great and the other being pretty bad. Uneven is a good word to sum it up.

'I Care a Lot' does have a number of good things. The best thing about it is Pike, on killer form as a character that manages to be even more amoral than her Amy Dunne in 'Gone Girl'. She really did make me feel uneasy, just as her role required. Dinklage has never been more sinister than here and his chemistry with Pike in the second half really chills. Eiza Gonzalez has allure and intensity in her acting, her chemistry with Pike sizzles and personally don't think what it represented was laid on too thick. Was also impressed by the always great Wiest, who is moving as the one rootable character in the film.

The visuals are stylish and have an audacious thriller action look, almost looking at times like it was homaging spaghetti westerns. The music is very atmosphere-filled and pulsates with energy without being too over the top. The script in the first half is taut, darkly comic/satiric at times and often chilling, effectively making one feel uncomfortable at the nastiness that goes on. It even has a voice over eerily reminiscent of 'Gone Girl's' "Cool Girl" monologue.

First half is truly great. Fast-paced, intriguing, tense and appropriately makes one feel uncomfortable and scared, this kind of deceit does happen and the film does very well at showing the full horrors of it and how easily it can be fallen for. The direction in the first half was clever stylistically and had the right amount of tension.

Sadly, 'I Care a Lot's' second half is nowhere near as good and actually felt like a different and vastly inferior film. It was mostly pretty bad, and at its worst it was close to awful and saved only by the acting, the chemistry between Pike and Dinklage, their performances and the visuals. The tautness is lost and the intrigue and tension go too and the trashiness goes well overboard. Evident in some truly implausible and very strange moments , and it feels over-stretched (this could have been twenty minutes shorter easily) and downright silly. The murder attempt especially has to be seen to be believed and not in a good way.

Also overkill was the bumbling ineptitude of the mafia, while the dialogue loses its flow and becomes cheesy and self-indulgent. The direction also suffers in quality and became dumb done for the paycheck action thriller-like. While the very end satisfies, what happens comes straight out of nowhere and is rushed through.

Concluding, started off so well but the second half was a real let-down. 6/10.

First let me acknowledge the acting of Rosamund Pike as Marla Grayson. I have never hated a character as much as Marla Grayson. Up there with Joe Pesci as Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas.

It is only worth watching for Rosamund Pike alone.

Rosamund Pike's gleefully ruthless performance makes this film watchable. Peter Dinklage is excellent in his role as well and is a good foil for Pike's character. This film is pretty much always moving and entertaining, it just runs into some real lack of believability near the end. The entire premise is a bit shaky to believe, but the ending really goes overboard. It's also pretty hard to root for anyone in this movie because all the characters are so horrible and not super fleshed out. This film is worth a watch for the performances, just don't expect to feel hopeful about humanity after.

I really don't understand all the one star reviews. I have seen terrible movies and this wasn't one of them! I used to wonder why movie studios were forever churning out remakes and the same tired old plots but now I know why. Clearly they know that people are only happy with the same old predictable nonsense. Rosamund Pike is fabulous in this. Peter Dinklage did a great job, too. I loved how they made both main characters villains for a change. I hated her character with a vengeance and felt sickened by what she was doing. But that is what made the film so fascinating. It was cleverly done because there were times I feel a teeny bit of empathy for both antagonists. I did start to wonder if the film would fail to completely condemn Marla's actions, especially as at one point it seemed to revel in the "girl power" of Marla and her sidekick. The film really gets you thinking about how cunning, manipulative people can abuse the system. It really opened my eyes to what corruption and injustice can go on if you are able to use the law to your advantage. Yes, there were flaws and aspects that were unbelievable (especially her escape from the car and the overly idiotic henchmen) but I was riveted throughout. I've been so bored with so many films recently but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. I'd say ignore the bad reviews and give this a try. It's worth watching purely for Rosamund's performance.

Firstly it is hard to explain this film without giving anything away so this will be a spoiler free review that may seen a bit vague.

Firstly to respond to these 1 Star reviews saying that you are supposed root for the awful woman who is ripping off old people..... Well you aren't.

This film is actually very clever. It has no good guys, accept for the poor guy right at the beginning who just wants to see his Mother. It's a refreshing concept, who do you root for when both main characters are pretty evil? Fact is neither. You just watch the mayhem unfold and see where it goes. Most Cinema is very formulaic most of the time. Good guy starts strong, middle of film gets weakened and then comes back to save the day. This film is a refreshing twist on the somewhat stagnant at times method of storytelling in films. Throughout the film you actually want the evil guardian woman to lose.... badly. y You even kind of side with Peter Dinklage's gangster character even though he is not a very nice man either. But that's what's clever, there are no superheroes, no good guys, no one that you really want to win. In fact you want nearly everyone to lose, which is odd but a new and different viewing experience.

I have to admit that throughout the second part of the story I really did think I was going to dislike this film. Especially if it had the ending it seemed to be heading towards. Which it kind of did , however...... the last couple of minutes made this film a bloody good film and a genius concept. Without spoiling anything this has one of the best examples poetic justice I have ever seen in a movie. I can't say more without spoiling it but the absolute end of this film not only redeemed the movie it made the whole thing make sense.

Another point I feel I should make is this film brings to light the easily abused court appointed guardian system that actually exists the US. Yes in certain places in America guardians can stop family members from seeing those under their care. It's wrong, unjust and this film does a good job of showing the dark side of such an ill thought out system.

Now accept for the story the good points of this film are it has great acting. Peter is cracking as he always is and Rosamund Pike plays her character well. I rally did hate her throughout this film which shows how good an actress she is. The film is shot well with some very clever cinematography.

The main Negatives for me are it does get a little rushed in the second part. It could have done with another 15 minutes setting up the finale and certain points don't make sense. Also it is listed as a comedy which it really isn't. Go in expecting a comedy and you'll be majorly disappointed. It's more a reflection on society and the greed that we have nowadays. I feel this comedy tag has had a major negative impact on the film which is a bit silly. It is most definitely not a comedy.

Basically my advice is watch the film. You won't like many of the characters. They're pretty much bottom feeders the lot of them, except for maybe one of two. But that's not the point of this film. Watch it, enjoy the storytelling even if you don't like what's happening and see if like me, you have a massive smile on your face right at the end.

A movie where you hope the main character fails brutally the entire time.

This movie was so good. Don't listen to the naysayers. It's unique, quirky, fun. Even the title is great...

If you like your normal, run of the mill, 'happy', nicely wrapped and commercially acted movies. This is not for you. (Marvel, Titanic, rom coms?)

If you like, offbeat, actors who aren't the 'top billed', different scripts, beats to its own drum, doesn't follow mainstream plots and tightly packaged for sale.

This is for you. Very good!

The main character is unspeakably evil and the writer/director spends the whole movie glorifying her. I've never seen a movie that made me Physically I'll before.

It's worth a look, simply for the acting of both Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage.

This going to be a film that you will love or hate. As a Brit, I am absolutely horrified by some of the events in this film, and I know that they embellish, but I'm told by American friends that such circumstances can arise, absolutely horrifying, especially as there are people out to profit.

The first twenty minutes will make you angry, and will make you feel like you want to switch off, but stick with it, as it's worth the ride, you will want to question a lot of what you see.

I have never wanted a central character to receive a nasty fate so much, Pike really did an amazing job in the lead role.

Different, irritating, but I enjoyed it. 7/10.

The title of "I Care a Lot" is meant to be ironic, since the woman it's about, a professional ward and guardian for the elderly played by Rosamund Pike, uses her business as a way to bilk vulnerable people out of their assets. But it ended up being doubly ironic, because it also applies to the feelings I had watching it. Everyone in this movie is so vile that I didn't care about any of them.

Except for Dianne Wiest. I did care about her. She plays the mom of a Russian mafia boss and the latest victim of Pike's scheme, the one who sets the plot of the film in motion. Wiest is a sweetheart, and she was no nice to Kevin Bacon in "Footloose," and she has a brief moment where she puts Pike's character in a bad-ass chokehold, which is what I wanted to do to her, that she had me really rooting for her. I also found myself rooting for her son, the mafia boss, played by Peter Dinklage, and that tells you something right there about how morally vacuous this movie is. The Russian Mafia boss is the good guy. Let me repeat that. The Russian Mafia boss is the good guy. Ok, so he cares more about reclaiming some stolen diamonds than he does his stolen mom, but still. The terrible things he's probably done all happen offscreen, so we can pretend that he's basically nice.

Pike clearly has a ball with this role, and it's a huge testament to her abilities as an actress that she could make this movie even as watchable as it is. But I don't know what I was supposed to take away from this film. I felt extremely anxious and shaky watching it. I just wanted really bad things to happen to her and her partner because they're so deplorable. I wanted them to be tortured and killed, because people as awful as they are deserve to be punished for their awfulness. But I felt really bad being made to feel that way, and that's the only thing this movie made me feel.

The movie is pretty poorly written too, but it's so snappy and admittedly entertaining while in the middle of watching it that it's not obvious how poorly it's written until after you've had a chance to mull it over afterwards. I mean seriously, would a Russian Mafia boss (who, by the way, is the good guy, or did I already mention that?) be this inept at killing not one but two women who, no matter how smart and ruthless they might be, still have literally zero experience dealing with Russian Mafia bosses?

Rosamund Pike really needs to jump back into a period gown and do another Jane Austen movie where she gets to be gentle and sweet because otherwise I'm going to be too terrified of her to ever watch her in a movie again.

Grade: B-

This film seems to be sabotaged on here. Ok, it's not the most amazing or brilliant film but no way is it a 1 out of 10 compared to some of the real rubbish that gets good reviews here. Too many 1 out of 10 reviews here to ring true. Watch it and judge yourself in this instance.

May be the plot is not perfect, may be the story is a bit over the real possibilities of humans, may be Pike is acting more like in her old Bond movie than in a real story about horrible people. But it makes you thinking that these monsters exist in the rea life, and this is a lot...

Watched it last night and just came back to it's IMDB to check out other similar movies. Happened to chance on the reviews and there were so many negative ones that I felt compelled to write a good one. It's a fun, gripping, stylish comedy-thriller. It doesn't take itself too seriously, sure and that's may be why the 'movie police' are raging against it. Read a review which said Pike's character is unscrupulous and doesn't make you want to root for her. SO? That's an excellent explanation really as to how well really she has played her role. Her character is repulsive and she has done a brilliant job convincing the audience of the same. Few places the movie is over the top and illogical, sure, but it's an entertainer, not a biography or a documentary. You don't expect James Bond or Jason Bourne movies to be logical either. Again, definitely a fun watch and I lucked out finding this one. Recommended.

This started of great and then half way through just took a turn for the worst. There was so much to go off of with the elder woman and her background, to just let that go and pretend that the guardian is somewhat above every situation like some amazing spy with the ability to supersede all odds. Palease. This could have been great but instead is a disappointing disaster

I was thoroughly taken by this film. I'm a fan of Rosamund Pike who I last saw in Radioactive. She does a great job as the cold hearted crook. Having seen quite a few people deteriorate to where the kind of thing that happens to Dianne Weist here doesn't seem all that far fetched. At any rate it was quite entertaining to have our predicament dramatized in a light hearted manner. I'd recommend this for anyone over 65. It's not an art piece, for sure, but it will make you think.

I liked the movie and the plot does not actually have that many holes as other reviews complained (seems like those reviewers did not pay attention to the details). There is something off with all 1-star and 2-star reviews - it's not even close to being a bad movie. If you like good acting, dark humor, and stories about criminal minds - give this movie a chance. 7.5/10