By Carly Newton
The movie, “I Care a Lot,” came to Netflix in February. Starring Rosamund Pike and Peter Dinklage, this movie is about a legal guardian who lies to the court about the mental state of elderly individuals so she can take control of their assets. It’s wild from beginning to end.
Recently, I sat down with my mom to watch a movie, and “I Care a Lot” was the one she picked. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but I got more invested in it as it continued.
The main character, Marla Grayson, who is played by Rosamund Pike, is an evil woman who has one goal in mind — getting rich. She doesn’t care what she has to do to get rich, including scamming hundreds of elderly people out of their money.
Early on, it’s apparent that Grayson has the trust of the judge at the courthouse. The judge routinely awards her guardianship over elderly people who aren’t present to represent themselves. When Grayson pleads her case, this judge believes her every word. This is where I think the movie is far-fetched. I would hope in a real-life situation, a judge wouldn’t award guardianship so easily to someone who is not related to the elderly individual.
Grayson is always perfectly prepared to argue the sanity and well-being of each elderly person she wants to scam. When she is awarded guardianship, she takes over their assets and sells them off to make money. Her usual target is an elderly person who has no family members that would protest her actions.
Grayson is made aware of the perfect target — Jennifer Peterson. Peterson is the right age with no family ties and a big house all to herself. Grayson sees this as the perfect opportunity, until it isn’t.
Peterson is a healthy older woman who is clearly mentally stable. But Grayson and her people convince her to come with them and she is put in a care facility that won’t allow her to have contact with the outside world.
Jennifer Peterson has a past that Marla Grayson could not dig up in her usual evaluations of her potential targets. In her records, it says that Peterson doesn’t have any children, but that’s because Jennifer Peterson isn’t her real name.
Not long after Peterson is admitted into the care facility, her son Roman Lunyov, a powerful mafia guy, tries to break her out. Each time he attempts to his plan is foiled by Grayson. Someway, somehow, Grayson is always there to outsmart anyone in her way.
Grayson is one of the most infuriating characters I have ever watched in a movie. She is an antagonist that is way too smart for her own good. She even manages to escape almost certain death by some miracle. I almost stopped watching this movie multiple times because of how irritating she was. Don’t get me wrong; the plot was unique and well-done. The acting was great and it’s definitely worth watching. I am glad I finished it through. The ending was worth it.
APN 