Nurse Betty

Last night I started to recommend this movie to my parents and got stuck when asked what it was about. There is no simple way to describe the plot and not give away an awful lot of the story in the process. It's just not a simple story. The movie is equal parts satire, light hearted comedy, road trip and character portrait. This movie must have been a tough one to pitch to a studio.

There's no way to review this without going into the story though. I'll try and keep it brief.

The movie centers around Betty (Renee Zellweger), a waitress in a small town. She is married to a real lout, Dell (Aaron Eckhart). To escape her dull life she has become a rabid fan of the soap opera A Reason to Love. She is crazy about the main character Dr. David Ravell (Greg Kinnear).

Betty is at home watching a tape of the soap when her husband comes home with a pair of "business associates." These two (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock) are actually hitmen and have come looking for Dell because he's tried to sell some drugs that he stole. Betty, from another room, witnesses the brutal murder of her husband. The shock is so severe that she snaps almost instantly. She promptly takes off for Los Angeles to find her jilted fiancee (or so she imagines) Dr. David Ravell.

This begins a delusional road trip where Betty seeks her true love, who isn't a real person and the actor who plays him has never met her. The two hitmen pursue her, thinking she is part of Dell's plot to make money off the stolen drugs.

Zellwegger is great as Betty. She brings an amazing aura of naive sweetness to the character. This pays off with many laughs as her sweetness never fades, regardless of the situation. It also tends to cause people to not realize that she's off her rocker and treat her as a normal person, frequently assuming she is in possesion of talents far beyond her true skills.

Morgan Freeman is, as always, excellent. His hitman has a surprising nobility and classiness that seems out of place with the profession. He is very much interested in being a professional at all times, a concept he struggles to convey to his hot headed young partner. Chris Rock's hitman is loud and flashy, solely interested in making a statement with his actions.

What makes the movie work is that Betty is not the only one who has lost their marbles. Freeman's character, Charlie, loses his grip on sanity as well. He stares at Betty's photo as they drive cross country, talking to it as if she was there. He begins to assign all sorts of traits to her, making her into his perfect woman, despite the fact that he has never met her. They are both trying to improve their lives by creating a fake reality. Eventually reality is bound to crash the party though and bring them rudely back from their fantasy worlds.

The movie is partly a satire, shining a harsh light on Hollywood culture. Mostly though it is a fantasy. Betty is compared to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz at one point. It's a relevant comparison because she is traveling through a fantasy world. The difference is that, unlike Dorothy who woke up in comfortable familiar surroundings, Betty wakes in ugly situation. She is suddenly faced with a situation that makes it impossible to continue her fantasy. She has no choice but to confront reality, and with it the death of her husband.

The plot is carefully laid out, allowing plenty of time for the characters and situations to be established. This makes for very satisfying laughs because everything plays out logically, even when the actual events are extremely odd. There are no cheap laughs here. Each one is carefully planned and plotted. The end result is a movie that is creative and original without doing so simply for the sake of craziness. It's a refreshing film that is well worth your time.

- John Shea