NURSE BETTY
Review by John Beachem
* * * *
Directed by: Neil LaBute Written by: John C. Richards, James Flamberg
Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger) is a waitress obsessed with a soap opera called "A Reason to Love". Who can blame her for dreaming of another life when she's stuck with a dead-end job and a husband, Del (Aaron Eckhart), who couldn't care less about her? One evening, her husband comes home with two associates, Wesley and Charlie (Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman), not knowing that Betty is still in the house. It turns out these associates are actually there to reclaim stolen drugs from Del. After Del is killed, and Betty witnesses the event, she becomes so traumatized that her mind convinces her she is actually living in the world of her soap opera, and she is engaged to the lead character, Dr. David Ravell (Greg Kinnear). So she leaves a message for Del, telling him she had to leave (her brain refuses to admit he's dead), and heads for Los Angeles, where Dr. Ravell works at Loma Vista hospital. Of course, Dr. David Ravell is actually an actor named George McCord, and Loma Vista hospital is only a set, but Betty's traumatized mind has no idea. Meanwhile, Charlie and Wesley find out that Betty saw everything, and they head after her. Wesley just wants the job over with, but Charlie's mind soon becomes as warped as Betty's, and he becomes convinced she is really the perfect woman for him.
After a summer filled with useless movies, "Nurse Betty" is like a breath of fresh air. Just as I was getting ready to write 2000 off as the worst year for comic movies (actually, for movies in general) ever, along comes this little gem. Big surprise, it came from USA Films; the same company that brought us "Being John Malkovich". While the film certainly isn't your traditional comedy, it has a nice blend of laugh out loud bits and a great many chuckles. Now, you have to like your humor a little on the unusual side to enjoy this movie. In fact, throughout the film, all I could think about was how much it felt like a Coen brothers movie. Just like the Coens' excellent "The Big Lebowski", this is a movie made great and entertaining by its sheer variety of eccentric characters. Is it as funny as the Coens' film? No, but the dude is a tough act to follow. Yet in its own way, "Nurse Betty" succeeds admirably. By the way, if you love gross-out humor you're going to the wrong movie. This is one that's made for the rest of us (finally). In other words, it's fairly intelligent fluff that probably won't win many major awards, but it'll sure entertain.
One of the greatest strengths to "Nurse Betty" is the excellent cast. Renee Zellweger ("Me, Myself, and Irene"), who I really wasn't too sure about, proves herself here. As the slightly ditzy, very confused Betty, she is simply too endearing for words. She manages to keep a smile plastered on her face without making it look phony, and it only slips when a situation arises to really confuse her (this happens a lot less often than you'd think, she's so caught up in her fantasy world). Greg Kinnear ("Mystery Men") is perfect as Betty's obsession, going from decent guy to sleaze ball and back again without missing a beat. I have to hand it to Kinnear, the man does baffled almost as well as Zellweger. I normally don't care for Chris Rock's ("Dogma") particular brand of acting, which seems to involve him yelling a lot. While he uses this same acting style throughout "Nurse Betty", it works since he is counter balanced by the eternally calm Morgan Freeman. Speaking of that great actor, if he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for this performance heads are going to role. His turn as Charlie, the hit-man one job away from retirement, is simply brilliant. It's a shame Freeman doesn't get more of these kinds of roles, because his comic timing is impeccable.
There are several scenes in this movie that are, quite frankly, comic gold. The first meeting between Betty and George is absolutely priceless. The two play off each other so well, the entire scene almost feels improvised. Another great scene is one where Charlie and Wesley take a slight detour to visit the grand canyon (Wesley calls it the bland canyon), and Charlie starts dancing with a hallucination of Betty. Yet the movie is, above all else, a black comedy. If you can't laugh at detestable people getting exactly what they deserve, you're better off seeing something else. For example, the scene where Charlie and Wesley kill the hapless Del is horrifying, but the aftermath is quite funny if you can bring yourself to laugh after watching someone get scalped. Neil LaBute (who also directed the very disturbing "In the Company of Men") keeps the film running along quite nicely, and this is a big boon. This was one of those rare movies (at least this year) where I wasn't just waiting for it to end. In fact, I wouldn't have minded in the slightest if it had run a touch longer; maybe have explored a few subplots (more on that next paragraph) that never develop. Oh well, that's just me for you, impossible to satisfy.
My complaints with the movie are few, but rather significant. Foremost among them being that there are a few little sub-plots which sadly never get developed. For example, one involves Betty getting hired on at the hospital after saving a man's life. After the head nurse hires her to work in the pharmacy, and warns her against messing with the patients, you expect this to go somewhere and it never does. The film also starts off a little slowly (I was starting to think, "oh no, not another dud."), but once it gets going it really goes. There were a few points during the movie where I couldn't breath I was laughing so hard. The real priceless scene is near the end, when Charlie and Betty finally meet up. The dialogue in this scene is absolutely perfect, and Freeman and Zellweger have some great on-screen chemistry. The soundtrack features a great new score from composer Rolfe Kent ("Election"), and the cinematography by Jean-Yves Escoffier ("Rounders") is really quite beautiful (his shots of the western countryside belong in a travel magazine somewhere). The movie runs 112 minutes, but it won't feel half that long. I'd recommend it to those who like their humor a little on the dark side, and to fans of Morgan Freeman and Renee Zellweger since both really shine here. I give the movie four out of five stars.
Comments? Send to: johnbeachem@dependentfilms.net
Past reviews can be found at: http://www.epinions.com/user-elerad? or http://us.imdb.com/ReviewsBy?John+Beachem
* * * * * - One of the best movies of the year. * * * * - Great flick, try and catch this one. * * * - Okay movie, hits and misses. * * - Pretty bad, see it at your own risk. * - See this one only if you enjoy pain.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews