When I first watched Rosamund Pike’s performance as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, I was blown away. Amy is a villain who is so distinctly feminine, who is horrible and manipulative, yet oddly enthralling. The “cool girl monologue,” as the internet has affectionally named, is a moment. Rosamund Pike embodies Amy Dunne until there’s no distinction between Pike and Dunne’s marrow. The dew-eyed Pike of 2005’s Pride & Prejudice is no more, just Amy’s blunt bob and hardened heart.
Gone Girl is ever-present while watching I Care a Lot. Pike’s hair is the same as Amy’s transformative haircut, her American accent picks up the same pitch as Amy’s voice. There’s even a convivence story scene similar to the mentioned monologue. Pike spoke about I Care a Lot and Gone Girl’s relationship:
“I’ve thought about Amy now that I’ve seen the film. I didn’t think about Amy while I was making the film. What they both do, those characters, is take traditional notions of femininity, the things that people expect in their women, the qualities, and use them to their advantage. Mimic them, portray them very convincingly.”
The problem becomes that as a viewer I couldn’t help but constantly refer back to Gone Girl while watching Pike’s newest villain and be predictably disappointed at a film that pales in comparison. Marla (Rosamund Pike) is a cunning businesswoman who targets vulnerable elderly people to be forced into state care. After she manipulates the justice system to become their legal guardian and carts them off to a senior home, she efficiently strips their home and assets for her own financial gain. She is aided by her business partner and lover Fran (Eiza González). One wrong scamming target starts a whole mess of crime-related danger, headed by Roman Lunyov (Peter Dinklage).
I was so happy to see Rosamund Pike back in a role with this level of villainous glee. Marla’s almost imperceptible smile at moments of vicious manipulation lock down Pike’s domination of this aggressor role. Rosamund Pike knows how to work a bob. Pike still excels at a voice-over, even if her dialogue is frustratingly reductive. She often lurks behind sunglasses, only enhancing the character’s position as someone gaming the system. Pike balances this role through her intimacy with Fran. The couple’s love seems genuine, exemplified by Marla’s gentle cradling of Fran’s face during moments of pain.
The rest of the film seems to be just a vehicle for Rosamund Pike’s delicious wickedness. The supporting cast holds their own, but only so much can be done for bad dialogue. “There’s two types of people in his world. Those who take and those who get took. Predators and Prey. Lions and lambs,” is just one example of a film treading into repetitive territory. The most interesting thematic choice of the narrative becomes the statement, “I care…” “Care” is twisted, becoming a profession rather than an emotion.
This goes into some of the themes the story seems to be tackling. Topics we recognize like “the American dream” and “the 1%” are explicitly referenced in the dialogue with little to no subtlety. The production design is a corporate dream. Marla wears pastel suits while glancing at an organized wall of her next targets. Her character is reminiscent of Shiv Roy (Sarah Snook) in Succession. Both are corporate actors, able to manipulate and use whatever power they have to get more power. Marla is a bad guy going about her business mostly legally, while Roman Lunyov is a bad guy doing things out of genuine love. This is an interesting complication. Both Roman and Marla’s offices are organized corporate worlds, with assistants and coffee. The parallels do draw an interesting conclusion about our perceptions.
At the end of the day, Marla wants people to play by her rules. Her intense pursuit of wealth is her downfall, as she forgets that not everyone plays by the rules that she has established. Rosamund Pike succeeds in portraying this character, but a lackluster screenplay cannot save this movie.
3/5 STARS