Peter McHugh

I have to preface by saying that the acting was stellar, I don't have any reservations about that. Peter Dinklage was great and Rosamund Pike is so good at playing a sociopath, both in this and Gone Girl. However I'm offended by the audacity of the writers to try and sway the audience into rooting for Marla to succeed because she... *checks notes*... cares for her girlfriend?? Are we supposed to forget how completely diabolical and evil that this character is? She locks up and drugs grandparents for God's sake! Let's look side by side at the motivations of our two main characters-- Peter Dinklage loves his mom, doesn't want her locked up, and will do anything to get her back. Rosamund Pike wants to continue exploiting the elderly and keep Dianne West locked away until she dies. It's a no brainer, but yet the movie tries to force us to root for the obvious villain! Not even an anti-hero, she's the straight up villain with no redeeming qualities. Marla is arguably one of the most despicable villains in recent movies and instead of the satisfaction of watching her get undone by her own ego, we are forced to sit with her getting Jack Ruby'd in the last scene of the film. It's weak, it's lame, and it's worth one star.