I Care A Lot: A “Colorful” Black Comedy! (Netflix)

Maria Grayson (Rosamund Pike) is running a fabulous scam.  She has a physician who treats geriatric patients spot a good candidate for guardianship – this is typically someone who is showing mild cognitive decline (or close enough to it), on their way to Alzheimer's, who is fairly well off.  The doctor signs off that the person is unable to care for herself (or himself), a judge soon signs a court order endorsing the guardianship, and Maria now has total control of their life!  Soon, she carts them off to a to a long-term care facility, sells their property, and siphons off their liquid asserts.  She does so (along with her business and romantic partner, Fran (Elizabeth Gonzalez)), so deftly that suspicion by the court never occurs, although some family members suspect that Pike is ripping off their loved one.  She is so persuasive in court that family protests about her guardianship are always unsuccessful.  She has about 40 "wards" and the cash flow is tremendous.  Maria is a cunning and ruthless sociopath, obsessed with getting extremely rich, who refuses to give up or lose in any situation.  She states proudly that she was once a lamb, but that now she is a lioness. The physician finds a "cherry," Jennifer Peterson (Dianne Wiest), who is close to mild cognitive decline, wealthy, and has no living family.  Maria obtains guardianship, even though Jennifer has no apparent difficulty managing her life!  Maria soon finds out that Jennifer is far richer than she could ever have imagined.  Unbeknownst to Maria, however, Jennifer isn't who she appears to be.  She has a son, Roman (Peter Dinklage), who is in the Russian mafia and wants to get Jennifer's freedom back. A lawyer, Dean Ericson Esq. (a scene-stealing Chris Messina), representing Roman, offers Maria generous compensation to terminate the guardianship.  He even makes it clear to her that she is treading into very dangerous waters, but Maria isn't scared and tells Dean to "f*** off!" The remainder off the film is the war/chess game between Maria and Roman.  Will Maria best a master criminal or will her pride and arrogance be her downfall?  Who do you even root for when both of them are despicable human beings? Some may have difficulty watching the first part of the movie when Jennifer becomes a prisoner, but writer/director J. Blakeson has made a satiric and suspenseful film about what is actually a disturbing national problem.  Pike is great and deserves her Golden Globe Best Actress in a Comedy.  This is my favorite movie of 2021 so "I Care a Lot" that you see it.  It's an AAW film and a MUST-SEE!