Absolutely no offense intended to Rosamund Pike, who is a very good actress with a string of acclaimed performances under her belt, but she does her best work when tasked with playing an icy b*tch. Anyone that’s seen David Fincher’s Gone Girl will surely agree, with the 42 year-old’s sharp features and piercing eyes making her perfectly suited to embodying characters that appear cold on the outside, but have much more going on underneath the surface.
Netflix’s smash hit new movie I Care a Lot only reinforces that notion, with Pike landing a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for her phenomenal turn as Marla Grayson. The blackly comedic drama follows a shady legal guardian who uses her connections to acquire the assets of her charges once she puts them into assisted living facilities, before getting more than she bargained for when her latest scam turns out to have ties to organized crime and a dangerous mobster played by Peter Dinklage.
Murder, mystery and intrigue follow shortly after, and I Care a Lot keeps audiences guessing right from the first moment to the very last. It’s a testament to Pike’s efforts that Marla somehow emerges as a sympathetic figure, despite being a fairly despicable person that earns a living circumventing the law, and even admits in her voiceover that all she wants to do is get rich.
Since arriving on Netflix on February 19th, I Care a Lot has remained one of the most-watched titles on the platform, spending several days in the top spot, although it’s currently slipped back to third. Writer and director J. Blakeson’s last movie was the tedious YA adaptation The 5th Wave, but you’d never have guessed that given how accomplished his latest effort is.