The expansion of original productions by Netflix continues, with the Original Netflix film, The Fundamentals Of Caring – for which we now have a new trailer. The movie premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and will shortly make its debut on the streaming platform. It is notable for being the highest profile film project yet undertaken by writer-director Rob Burnett, who was a producer and writer on The Late Show With David Letterman for over 1000 episodes.
The Fundamentals Of Caring is based on the 2012 novel by Jonathan Evison – The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving – and is essentially a road-trip movie, starring Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Craig Roberts (Bad Neighbors) and Selena Gomez (Bad Neighbors 2).
“The Fundamentals of Caring follows Ben, a retired writer who becomes a caregiver after suffering a personal tragedy. After 6 weeks of training, Ben meets his first client, Trevor, a foul-mouthed 18-year-old with muscular dystrophy. One paralyzed emotionally, one paralyzed physically, Ben and Trevor take an impromptu road trip to all the places Trevor has become obsessed with while watching the local news, including their holy grail: the World’s Deepest Pit. Along the way, they pick up a sassy runaway and a mother-to-be who help test the pair’s survival skills outside of their calculated existence as they come to understand the importance of hope and true friendship.”
As with any movie featuring Paul Rudd for a significant amount of screen time, The Fundamentals Of Caring appears to offer an abundance of charm and some quick-witted comedic moments. Craig Roberts also seems to be bringing a great, understated performance to the proceedings (although his presence here lumps the movie in with those that insist on hiring able bodied actors to play disabled characters, as if there are no disabled actors in the world available for work). For her part, Selena Gomez seems to be making the most of a character that is almost certainly a cookie-cutter female role, designed to facilitate the plot arcs of the leading men.
All in all, the latest trailer for The Fundamentals Of Caring would suggest that the film is a slightly above-average take on the age-old tale of emotionally troubled people teaching each other life lessons of the utmost import, so they can blossom into better, fulfilled individuals. We’ll find out if that is an accurate summation when the movie is released on Netflix on June 24th, 2016.
