I Care a Lot is a whip-smart, crackling, mean little movie about awful people doing awful things. It has a protagonist but it doesn’t have a hero, a good person, or any morals but bad ones. It’s so good that I wish I didn’t have to report it flubs the landing and betrays its own tone and themes in the very last few minutes. But, hey, up to then, it’s 3/4ths a damn good film and 1/4th not-quite-as-good… and that’s kind of good enough for me!

The film stars a mesmerizing boss – a shark (or lioness) – in Rosamund Pike, a con artist business woman who uses her position as a caretaker for the elderly to bilk them out of their life savings. Working with crooked doctors, gullible judges, and a pliable legal system, she gets away with it with confidence, tact, and smarts. That is, until she finds an easy mark in a wealthy retired woman played by Dianne Wiest… and things start to go downhill.

To say this movie doesn’t have any heroes is perfectly truthful. The introduction and setup is pretty infuriating as we watch awful people scam the system for profit. Add in some shark lawyers working for even worse criminals who don’t like the con and you have no angels in this hell. So it’s a fine balancing act to turn Pike (who is fantastic) from villain into protagonist who we might have to root for… not because she’s a good person, but because she’s competent, capable, logical, and vindictive.

Peter Dinklage plays a criminal and he’s probably never been better. Seeing him play a wicked smart villain is a joy. It’s a pretty great performance and there’s at least one crackling scene between him and Pike that’s worth sitting through the entire film for. The dialog in this movie is on point.

But the setup is a lot better than the pay-off. I don’t think the final act is bad so much as it loses some of the high tension and wicked (if infuriating) fun of the first two acts. And the very end… well.. I think it’s a total betrayal of the rest of the film. Wish it wasn’t so.

So give this one a look, even if you don’t really want to watch a movie about terrible people. I think its high enough energy and telling a unique enough variation on a con artist film that it’s a thoroughly compelling watch.

Score: 86