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NURSE BETTY Send This Review to a Friend
In case anyone doesn't realize it already, Renee Zellweger is a superb, versatile actress who brightens any film in which she appears. This is especially true in "Nurse Betty," a wonderful showcase for her talent at comedy as well as for her ability to be endearing. Director Neil LaBute ("In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors"), working from a screenplay by John C. Richards and James Flamberg, has uncorked a honey of an excursion into gallows humor. It is a weird story with a strange plot and it's handled throughout with just the right offbeat tone.
Betty, a waitress in a Kansas coffee shop, is a fan of a television hospital soap opera titled "A Reason to Love." When her husband is brutally murdered, witnessing the bloody deed sends her into a state of shock that dents her grip on reality. Now she thinks the soap opera is real life and she heads for Los Angeles to meet the doctor of her dreams, played by Greg Kinnear. The ensuing entanglements are even more of a soap opera than the medical serial. LaBute and the film's writers provide us with a barrel of fun while examining the entwining of fantasy and reality. Message anyone?
Brightening the film considerably are the killers, Morgan Freeman as Charlie and Chris Rock as the irrepressible, foul-mouthed and very funny Wesley. Now they must eliminate Betty because she can identify them. But Charlie, somewhat of a dreamer, is falling in love with Betty while chasing her.
Terrible things happen in the film, but once you settle into the acceptance of the dark humor, it is easy to laugh at the nuttiness of it all, especially since Zellweger is so adept at projecting an openness and solemnity that makes everything all the funnier. The ending is too contrived by far, but by that time it doesn't matter. "Nurse Betty" may not be to all tastes--not everyone tunes in to this sort of humor. But for those on its wave length, the film is one of the year's delights. A USA Films release.
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