Have you ever had to babysit a jerk? By that I mean somebody you’d just-as-soon punch out or leave stranded on train tracks were it not for the lofty $9/hour. In a rare worth-your-time Netflix original, The Fundamentals of Caring asks precisely that question both early and often.
Broken human being Ben (Paul Rudd) has just completed social work training; he now has the professional capacity to give somebody the business. As loose ends with … life, Ben took a course to learn how to take orders from impaired folks of all varieties. The rules for caretaking essentially come down to common sense – gather more information than you have now and don’t be an asshole. Pretty simple, yet strangely easy to screw up, especially when the subject in question is a jerk.
Enter Trevor (Craig Roberts). Trevor suffers from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Douchebag Personality Disorder (DPD). We forgive Trevor because he’s been a paraplegic for almost all of his eighteen years of life and he probably won’t see thirty. While his father walked out on him long, long ago, he hasn’t so much as set a wheel outside his house in years. He immediately challenges Ben by feigning a mental disability (DMD is strictly a physical disorder). Desperate for work … and probably human contact, Ben endures a series of slight humiliations at Trevor’s hand without blinking. Paul Rudd is exceptionally good at being the guy who seems more disappointed than ruffled by your antics. Many of the latter include Trevor pretending he’s not breathing, which is probably only funny if you never encounter more than a dozen people in a year.
So who’s up for a road-trip? My, the buddy road trip sure is in vogue these days, no? This variation hinges on dependency; Trevor ain’t goin’ anywhere without Ben. There’s also an element of complete lack of necessity; this trip happens 100% because Ben thinks Trevor ought outside of the house. This element immediately relegates the film to a sub-perfect capacity – I’m sorry, but there has to be a bona fide reason for plot to earn a fourth star, and yet the lack of necessity makes the film more endearing: Trevor wants to see the biggest hole in the ground and Ben wants to take him just so Trevor can say he’s been to the biggest hole in the ground. It’s not Shakespeare, no, but there is something very endearing about granting the make-a-wish kid’s pathetic demand.
Truth is the house is safe, and Trevor is safer in it. Is that living? Fundamentals of Caring argues the anti-position. Not surprising as it’s a movie, but it does give a bit of pause – which is superior, arguably, Trevor lives his full Logan’s Run complement of thirty years in his house experiencing only his 
mother (Jennifer Ehle) and a series of faceless nurses … or … Trevor dies two years shy of thirty, but gets to explore the country a little?
Is a half-week of hitchhiker Selena Gomez worth 7% of your entire life?
The Fundamentals of Caring likes its characters; it’s amazing how much more likeable a film is when the screenplay clearly enjoys the people it describes. This is a small film about small people with small adventures; it’s hardly a barn-burner or a must see, but people who still have their souls intact should recognize the small joys of humanity masked by blankets of pain somewhere in there. It takes a level of maturity to explore Trevor’s humanity beneath his bullying – and it’s worth it if you get there.
A is for Anger. Keep it at bay
B is for Broken. Repair every day
C is for Crippled. Not always body
D is for Depressed. Life’s often shoddy
E is for etc. They need your help; don’t be an asshole.
Rated MA, 97 Minutes
D: Rob Burnett
W: Rob Burnett
Genre: Buddy-road-wheelchair pic
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Depressed paraplegics
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Worrywarts
