Nurse Betty

Released 2000
Stars Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, Greg Kinnear, Aaron Eckhart, Tia Texada, Crispin Glover, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Allison Janney
Directed by Neil LaBute

Neil LaBute's "Nurse Betty" is about two dreamers in love with their fantasies. One is a Kansas housewife. The other is a professional criminal. The housewife is in love with a doctor on a television soap opera. The criminal is in love with the housewife, whose husband he has killed. What is crucial is that both of these besotted romantics are invisible to the person they are in love with.

LaBute previously wrote and directed "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends and Neighbors," films with a deep, harsh cynicism. "Nurse Betty," written by John C. Richards and James Flamberg, is a comedy undercut with dark tones and flashes of violence. [It] is one of those films where you don't know whether to laugh or cringe, and find yourself doing both. It's a challenge: How do we respond to this loaded material? Audiences lobotomized by one-level stories may find it stimulating or confusing--it's up to them. Once you understand that Charlie and Betty are versions of the same idealistic delusions, that their stories are linked as mirror images, you've got the key.

Summary by Roger Ebert  

This film was interesting and cute, but it didn't really grab me. I would have enjoyed it more if I had caught the parallel between Betty (Renée Zellweger) and Charlie (Morgan Freeman), but I was too caught up in Charlie's and Wesley's (Chris Rock) relationship. It seems most people hated Rock's performance, calling it irritating and profane (would you expect anything less from Chris Rock?), but I thought it created a building tension between his character and the dignified Charlie. That was actually my favorite aspect of "Nurse Betty." -- Bill Alward