NURSE BETTY
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
Nurse Betty (Ren�e Zellweger) goes in search of her ex-fianc�, Dr. David
Ravell (Greg Kinnear), in Neil LaBute's sweetly romantic, fairytale
comedy for adults, NURSE BETTY. David lost his wife last year in a
tragic decapitation during a car accident. Of course, since they've
never located her head, the exact circumstances of the event are still
in question, especially since his wife had been having an affair with a
mobster.
Actually Betty isn't a real nurse at all, although she's been busy
impersonating one at a Los Angeles hospital where David works. She left
Kansas for the first time to come and find him.
Did I mention that she has never really met David, except, that is, on
television?
You see, David isn't real either. He is just the lead character in the
popular soap opera, "A Reason to Love." Delightful playing bad soap
star George McCord, Kinnear is equally charming as George's television
character, David. Even when Kinnear is the villain, as he was recently
in LOSER, he is always so likable that you end up secretly rooting for
him. Here we want Betty and David, I mean George, to get together since
both are so appealing.
It all starts way back in Kansas, where Betty works as a waitress at the
Tip Top Diner. Whenever David is on the tube at the diner, Betty's eyes
become transfixed, and she dishes out coffee like a robot. On her
birthday, her coworkers give her the perfect present, a cardboard cutout
of her hero.
Betty's home life is no picnic. She ignores her cheating husband (Aaron
Eckhart, star of IN THE COMPANY OF MEN) for her own dream world with
David. When a couple of bad guys, played with great evil comedic charm
by Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock, violently kill her husband in the
kitchen, she snaps and heads west looking for her dreamboat. After all,
David said on the television that "I just know that there's something
really special out there for me," and she knows that he must have been
speaking about her.
Zellweger (JERRY MAGUIRE) delivers the best and sweetest performance of
her career in NURSE BETTY. She is wacky but wonderful, a crazed fan
with an unshakable belief in life's infinite possibilities. With a huge
smile, Betty has a childlike innocence. As George says to her, "your
dedication scares me." Her infatuation ends up sweeping him off his
feet. The surprising scene when they first meet is the most brightly
written one in a script bursting with wonderfully imaginative scenes.
The screenplay by John C. Richards and James Flamberg won the award as
the best screenplay at this year's Cannes International Film Festival.
Director LaBute, known for his demonic dramas (IN THE COMPANY OF MEN)
and caustic comedies (YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS), is one of my personal
favorites. This, his third film, is the first time that he has worked
from someone else's script. Here, he proves, in case there was any
doubt, that he's just as brilliant a director as he is a writer. And
this being a LaBute film, there is an undercurrent of danger, as well as
a bit of pathos. Nevertheless, the film is an amazingly good-spirited
one, especially for someone known for exploring people's darkest
impulses.
The cheerful cinematography by Jean-Yves Escoffier (GOOD WILL HUNTING)
with its bright colors adds to the story's upbeat ambiance. The strong
supporting cast has so many terrific performances that it is hard to
pick a favorite, but mine might be Allison Janney (AMERICAN BEAUTY) as
the soap's hard-nosed producer. She is perfectly willing to kill off
the character of David if George doesn't do what she wants.
Traditional fairytales end with a simple, "they lived happily ever
after." I won't give away how NURSE BETTY ends, but I thought it was
perfect, especially its little epilog, which was icing on the cake.
NURSE BETTY runs 1:52. It is rated R for strong violence, pervasive
language and a scene of sexuality and would be acceptable for older
teenagers.
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Have I seen this movie: No
Will I see It: Probably
