Nurse Betty (2000)

hyped garbage

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Released in 2000, "Nurse Betty" stars Renée Zellweger as Betty, a lowly waitress married to a total jerk. She watches her favorite soap and fantasies about the hero-doctor on the show (Greg Kinnear). Meanwhile Morgan Freeman plays Charlie, the leader of a criminal duo (the other played by Chris Rock); as they chase the woman from Kansas to Los Angeles Charlie ends-up falling in love with her even though he's never met her.This is part dramedy, part road movie, part crime drama, part romcom and part black comedy. While it's rarely laugh-out loud, it's pretty consistently amusing. What throws it off is that it's such an eccentric mixture viewers don't know how to take it, especially when it throws in a fairly radical scalping sequence (and I don't mean scalping tickets). It helps, though, when you grasp that the movie's about Betty and Charlie and their romantic idealism of people they've never met.This is an offbeat movie that's half-good and half-meh. The "meh" reaction is mostly due to its curiosities; it might play better on repeat viewings.The movie runs almost 110 minutes and was shot in Los Angeles; Durango, Colorado; Grand Canyon, Arizona; and Rome, Lazio, Italy (closing scene).GRADE: C+

In a small Kansas town, beautiful blonde waitress Renee Zellweger (as Betty Sizemore) enjoys watching her favorite soap opera "A Reason to Love" starring handsome doctor Greg Kinnear (as George "David Ravell" McCord). Following a tragedy, Ms. Zellweger traumatically imagines she is a character in the soap opera she adores. As if she was on the TV show, Zellweger wants to work as a nurse and romance Mr. Kinnear. Tied in with the tragedy, her criminal Kansas customers Morgan Freeman (as Charlie) and Chris Rock (as Wesley) follow Zellweger westward, looking for drugs...This could have been brilliant...Artfully directed by Neil LaBute, the story by John C. Richards, "Nurse Betty" almost works. We have parallel American dream stories. First, there is the longing of Zellweger for the seemingly unattainable world existing only in "Hollywood". Knocked out of her mind by violent reality, she begins to live her dream. In her delirium, Zellweger pursues TV star Kinnear, with whom she has an imagined relationship. While this occurs, a more subtle loss of mind is experienced by Mr. Freeman, who begins to fall in love with Zellweger's character. A violent old Black criminal fantasizes a relationship with a pretty young White woman. Even more daring is which relationship is given the go, and which one is stopped dead in its tracks...Black comedy, indeed...Also a problem is the characterization of Freeman's sidekick, essayed by Mr. Rock. The professional comedian is the least funny (and most dispensable) of the comedy's quartet. If his reason for being there is meant to soften Freeman's character, it doesn't work. Freeman is made more despicable due to his connection with Rock's completely unlikable character. Perhaps the goal was to pair up the accomplished actor with the abrasive comedian. Actors and comics are not always interchangeable. Rock is unable to nail it down. There is promise in Rock's performance, though. He can also look to Kinnear for inspiration; a failed reporter then funny talk show host, Kinnear should have a shelf of "Supporting Actor" awards.******* Nurse Betty (5/11/00) Neil LaBute ~ Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Chris Rock

There's some heavy-duty talent involved in this movie. Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock as a father-son hit team. Greg Kinnear as a soap opera star. Direction by Neil Labute. The brilliant script is by John C. Richards. Well, maybe not everyone if familiar with that guy. But his screenplay is what makes it all work.Renee Zwellweger is front and center. I'd love to say this was her breakout role, but she had been in "Jerry Maguire" four years earlier. Still, I think this movie proved she could carry a movie by herself without Tom Cruise co-starring. She does carry it.How do you classify this movie? Light-hearted romance. No. Black comedy? But it's sweet, kinda. Crime drama. Well, sorta. But really, none of the above. It's about a crazy lady who, without really realizing it, puts her faith in luck. And it pays off. Even if the main character is insanely deluded.Can this work? Zellweger sells it.

Nurse Betty (2000)This is a sleeper, a dark comedy with enough inventive twists to call to mind The Truman Show but with a greater sense of reality to hold it down. Renee Zellweger is flawless as the naive, sweet, but utterly detached young woman named Betty who is addicted to a soap opera called "A Reason to Love." This seems sweet enough, but her husband is a jerk (totally) and things start to spiral, and get dizzy, as reality even for the viewer starts to shift ground.Not that you are ever confused about what is happening or who the good guys are. The good guys are not Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock, for sure, as this unlikely and comedic father and son duo get involved, incidentally at first, in Betty's strange inner and outer life. A chase of sorts ensues, the soap opera becomes reality, and then reality becomes soap opera. And it's really hilarious and inventive and fast paced.Is it a total work of genius? Probably not. Maybe Charlie Kaufman would have added another twist in there (I'm not sure how), and certainly some of the side characters could have seemed less cardboard, or less awkward as actors. But Zellweger is unbelievable (really, your jaw might drop at how convincing she could play her mental blindness, and her awakening, of sorts). And Morgan Freeman is his usually convincing and engaging self. The utterly disgusting violence of one 20 second scene might turn off some viewers near the beginning, but if you can keep watching, the movie gets better from there. Much better.