Netflix Pick – The Fundamentals of Caring
This weeks Netflix pick is a drama that, admittedly, doesn’t have any real surprises or twists. Why The Fundamentals of Caring is the recommendation for the week is because of the hope, friendship, and positivity it exudes. The world is a mess right now and it seems to only be getting worse. Instead of recommending another horror movie or a documentary about hick killers something with a more positive spin accomplishes what movies should accomplish. The Fundamentals of Caring delivers its audience an escape.
Fundamentals Of Caring
Ben Benjamin (Paul Rudd) is a depressed man in the midst of a divorce he doesn’t want. He switches careers from writing to caregiver. His first client, Trevor (Craig Roberts), is a young man with Muscular Dystrophy. Trevor acts like he doesn’t let his disease define him. He’s a crude jokester and very difficult to get along with. Ben matches Trevor in verbal blows and the two from a bond. Ben pushes Trevor, and his mother Elsa (Jennifer Ehle) , into letting him take Trevor on a road trip to see kitschy roadside attractions Trevor tracks on TV.
Predictably along the way Ben and Trevor grow closer. They run into a couple other wayward individuals and a small band is put together for the journey. Peaches (Megan Ferguson) who is introduced to be a plot device later, and Dot (Selena Gomez) as a rebellious teen and female interest for trevor.
The Fundamentals Of Caring Actors
Admittedly the roles are incredibly cookie cutter. Paul Rudd brings his typical sense of comedy to this drama so if that works for you, it works here. If his usual schtick doesn’t work for you the levity will be lost. His character is given some depth as the past he is running from unfolds. Sadly writer/director was a little too on the nose with the dialogue and the fact that Ben has to say things explaining what’s troubling his character waters down the performance. Craig Roberts does a great job playing a disabled teenager. He doesn’t play the disability, he plays Trevor. The jokes land, his off beat pranks work, and his dramatic moments are truly heart breaking.
Selena Gomez is still best known for being a Disney girl. She smokes, swears profusely, and acts seductively toward Trevor. These behaviors define her character, and her characters flght from her family, but also act as a message for Gomez as an actress that she isn’t a G rated kid anymore. Jennifer Ehle rounds out the supporting cast and delivers a great performance in very very little screen time. Ehle is stressed, concerned, caring, and alone. Every emotion in the character’s head is broadcast onto your screen with barely five minutes of screen time.
Director and Writer Rob Burnett is relatively new to directing. Feature films haven’t been the mainstay of his career. Burnett does a serviceable job capturing a drama that takes place in many confined areas. Like the story of the film and the acting; it’s safe. Safe is familiar, and familiar in a movie isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Fundamentals of Caring wasn’t made to change the filmmaking industry, it was made to uplift and entertain for a few hours.
It’d be an overstatement to say that The Fundamentals of Caring will educate you. It isn’t an overstatement to say that the movie will remind you what you already know. The world isn’t a terrible place all around. Individuals do good things and a simple life isn’t necessarily a wasted one.
