I Care a Lot
Synopsis
Poised with sharklike self-assurance, Marla Grayson is a professional, court-appointed guardian for dozens of elderly wards whose assets she seizes and cunningly bilks through dubious but legal means. It's a well-oiled racket that Marla and her business-partner and lover, Fran, use with brutal efficiency on their latest "cherry," Jennifer Peterson - a wealthy retiree with no living heirs or family. But when their mark turns out to have an equally shady secret of her own and connections to a volatile gangster, Marla is forced to level up in a game only predators can play - one that's neither fair, nor square.
Production Budget Analysis
The production budget for I Care a Lot (2021) has not been publicly disclosed.
CAST: Rosamund Pike, Peter Dinklage, Eiza González, Dianne Wiest, Chris Messina, Isiah Whitlock Jr. DIRECTOR: J Blakeson CINEMATOGRAPHY: Doug Emmett MUSIC: Marc Canham PRODUCTION: STXfilms, Black Bear Pictures, Crimple Beck
Box Office Performance
Theatrical box office data is not publicly available for I Care a Lot (2021). This may indicate a limited release, direct-to-streaming, or a release predating modern box office tracking.
Profitability Assessment
Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.
INDUSTRY IMPACT
PRODUCTION NOTES
▸ Production
It was announced in May 2019 that Rosamund Pike had been cast to star in the film, which would be written and directed by J Blakeson. Peter Dinklage and Eiza González were added in June. In July 2019, Chris Messina and Dianne Wiest joined the cast, and filming began the same month. Scenes were shot in Dedham, Massachusetts, including at the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Summary: 1 win & 6 nominations total
CRITICAL RECEPTION
Owen Glieberman, writing for Variety, praised writer and director J Blakeson, whom he compared to Alfred Hitchcock, stating that "when he finally gets around to staging an action sequence, it's a doozy [...] because he takes his time and has you hanging on every moment". For Empire, Terri White wrote that Blakeson "doesn't always remain in full control of the story and tone, [but] the ride is so wild and entertaining that it doesn't particularly matter", and gave the film four stars out of five. Slant Magazine's Chuck Bowen gave the film two stars and a half out of four, and wrote that "Blakeson means for us to champion Marla as a feminist icon for a while, though he deflates this potential moral idiocy with an ironic ending."
Various critics praised Pike for her performance as con artist Marla Grayson. While the Associated Press said "Pike pulls something off that few else could as a protagonist," Entertainment Weekly wrote that she delivered her best performance as a villain since Gone Girl in 2014.
Writing for Out, Mey Rude said that I Care a Lot was "almost a perfect lesbian movie", praising the "sinister glee" Pike brings to what "could've been an all-time great lesbian sex symbol" role and the "great chemistry" that she and Gonzalez have as the story "keeps escalating and twisting and turning". However, she strongly criticised the "undignified and blunt" ending. The New York Times said that the film was an "unexpectedly gripping thriller that seesaws between comedy and horror", praising it for being "cleverly written and wonderfully cast", and for its "ice-pick dialogue" and introduction of Peter Dinklage as Roman Lunyov.
Conversely, Adam Graham of The Detroit News gave the film a "D" and said that I Care a Lot was a "misguided black comedy", as viewers didn't have a way to relate to the character of Marla Grayson.
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