Review of The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) by Chris O — 19 Jan 2018

A generic, by the books feel good story that's been done before, but better.

An 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy (Craig Roberts) goes on a road trip with his caregiver (Paul Rudd), and the pair learn about life from the people they meet along the way. Written and directed by Rob Burnett, The Fundamentals of Caring made its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

So I finally got to watch that one movie on Netflix where the protagonist is in the dumps, he meets someone who changes his life, and in the end both of their lives are changed. We've seen this plot a bunch of times and even though feel good movies are typically great, this one was just meh. I hate to say that because I was really looking forward to this film, but it really underwhelmed in a lot of aspects.

In terms of acting, this was actually filled with some dull performances. Paul Rudd was just flat out pale in this film. His performance seemed uninspired and his character was boring. I'm only so harsh because I know Paul Rudd is capable of great things. That could be due to who his character was or lack of quality screenplay, but he just wasn't great. Craig Roberts was fine but he was just like any other snippy, wanna-be-comedian kid. His dialogue wasn't that clever and his character was replaceable. Selena Gomez was also just fine. I think they tried to add this 'bad-girl' persona to her but it just didn't work. Overall, there's not much to view in this movie.

The story overall was really generic. It's like the most generic playbook was laid out in front of us and brought to life. It follows a simple formula for feel good films and it never strays. It's predictable and that's sad, because I never like to predict a film. The only reason I predict films is because it's so glaringly obvious and that's the most disappointing thing. The screenplay tries to be smart and clever but it can never get to that point.

In the end, "The Fundamentals of Caring" is a lackluster and generic film that tries to be more than it is.