I Care a Lot is a 2021 Netflix original film released on February 19. The movie follows a woman who finds herself in a dangerous situation after she unknowingly put a mob boss’ mother in an elderly care facility. Before I watched I Care a Lot, I had high expectations. I believe that when Netflix funds good projects, many of them turn out well. For example, Haunting of Hill House and Bly Manor are fantastic Netflix mini-series. However, in an unfortunate twist, the film was one of the worst things I have seen in years.

The main goal of I Care a Lot is to be “empowering” for women, but there is a stark contrast between empowering women and completely degrading men. To elaborate, the main character of the film, Marla Grayson, played by Rosamund Pike, is the perfect woman who gets everything she wants, is always in control of every situation, and cannot be threatened. One of the most important rules in screenwriting 101 is that characters must have some flaws or show vulnerability to relate to the audience. It is nearly impossible to make viewers empathize or engage in characters that are essentially perfect and invincible. I Care a Lot’s screenwriter/director J. Blakeson breaks this rule.

Pike’s character has no discernible flaws. She is written as someone who always has a plan for every situation. There is a scene in the film when Pike’s character has lost everything, and an assassination attempt has been made on her life. Instead of acting like any normal human and showing some fear for herself or those around her, she immediately comes up with a plan to resolve the film’s conflict. Nothing is interesting about a character who never shows any vulnerability because there is nothing for the audience to latch on to.

The other major issue with the movie is its explicit hatred for men. Every male character in the movie is pathetic, idiotic, and overly proud. These slights against men are clear based on the casting of Peter Dinklage, who plays the mob as mentioned earlier boss and serves as the movie’s antagonist. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with casting Peter Dinklage. He is a great actor. However, in one of the final scenes, which I will not spoil, it becomes clear to the audience that he was cast because of his height. The actor is only four feet and four inches tall, and the movie uses his height as a physical representation of how small and pathetic men are. The director used Dinklage’s stature to slander the actor and practically all other men.

To summarize, I Care a Lot is the movie manifestation of what misogynists think feminism is. The director J. Blakeson is a man who thinks that feminism consists of women who think they are superior to men in every conceivable way. Although the movie may promote itself as empowering for women, it is just an outlet for Blakeson to pander to his twisted idea of feminists and virtue signal to them. The movie is awful. 1/10. Never watch it.