Closing the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, The Fundamentals of Caring follows Craig Roberts’ wheelchair-bound teenager and his carer, played by Paul Rudd. Coming from writer-director Rob Burnett, adapting Jonathan Evison’s The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, Netflix picked up the film before its premiere and ahead of a June release, the first trailer has now landed.
We said in our review,”Roberts especially shines as Trevor, continuing his vein of sardonic types he played before in his breakout film, Richard Ayoade’s Submarine. His performance is not about physicality (The Theory of Everything this isn’t), but Burnett’s deadpan script fits his quick-witted delivery like a glove. Rudd is good value as Ben, believably wracked by guilt over his son but also a great foil to Roberts’ bitterness.”
Check out the trailer below for the film also starring Selena Gomez, Jennifer Ehle, Megan Ferguson, and Frederick Weller.
The film follows the story of 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 smart-mouthed 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.
The Fundamentals of Caring premieres on June 24th on Netflix.