Some directors should stay away from whimsical comedies, or at least
attempting to make them. Case in point: Nurse Betty, the new film from
writer/director Neil LaBute, whose last two comedies, In The Company Of
Men and Your Friends & Neighbours, were hardly of the "whimsical" type. Some
solid acting from leads Renee Zellweger, Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock helps
the movie, but not enough to fully recommend it.
Zellweger plays a midwestern housewife named Betty Sizemore who lives for
a
soap opera called A Reason To Love. She knows everything there is to know
about it. Betty lives for the show, and judging from her crappy marriage
to
a sleazy, cheating auto dealer, it is easy to see why: it serves as a daily
escape into a fantasy world she would love to live in.
When she witnesses the brutal slaying of her husband by two hit men,Charlie
(Freeman) and Wesley (Rock), Betty is traumatized to the point that she
actually believes she is Nurse Betty, the ex-fiancée of Dr. David Ravell,
a
character on A Reason To Love. She heads off to Los Angeles, unknowingly
carrying along with her the drugs her husband tried to rip off, to reunite
with her long-lost love.
Nurse Betty is a film that consists of two halves: a Wizard Of Oz –esque
fantasy comedy that strains for a whimsical aura and the other half a
violent Quentin Tarantino crime story that even that missing-in-action
director would shudder at. The screenplay by John C. Richards and James
Flamberg had the potential to be an original work, but it doesn't pan out.
A
person suffering from trauma is nothing to laugh at, and having a labored,
weak screenplay only makes the situation worse.
Considering his first two films, In The Company Of Men and Your Friends
and
Neighbors, Neil LaBute is not the first person one would chose to make a
comedy that shows any type of lightheartedness. It would be like getting
James Ivory to tackle the sequel to Seven or getting Spike Lee to direct
an
episode of Friends: it is just not in their directorial blood. The violent
half of the film, the one that is actually of some interest, seems to be
where LaBute is most comfortable. But even there, LaBute is not working
at
the same level he did on his previous efforts. Nothing is sadder than
watching a talented director go on autopilot in order to get a box-office
hit under his belt, and that is the case here.
Still, the film is not a total loss. Despite a story that is as confused
as
its lead character, the cast makes Betty worthy of a look (at least on
video). Zellweger, following up her underwritten role in this past summer's
Me, Myself & Irene, captures the sweet innocence and unlimited charm needed
for the viewer to connect with her character. I just wish she had a better
script to work with.
Freeman and Rock, however, are the true stars of the movie. There are very
few actors that can carry off the world-weary professional as convincing
as
Morgan Freeman. With his weathered look and sad eyes that seem to say that
he has seen and is pretty tired of it all, Freeman gives his cold killer
a
heart and core that the film so desperately needed (too bad he didn't write
and direct it). Rock continues to show that he is one very talented person
who seems to be maturing as an actor with each consecutive film role. He
gives Wesley an intensity that would make even the toughest hit man keep
a
few feet away from him. These two talented actors work wonderfully off each
other, so much so that I wish that they could have been in a separate film
altogether (Come to think of it, I was convinced that I was watching another
movie altogether when their characters came on.).
As for the other cast members, Greg Kinnear comes off well enough as actor
George McCord, the actor who plays Dr. Ravell, the object of Betty's
affections, but once again Kinnear doesn't display enough dimension as an
actor to be completely successful. He has the temperament of an actor down
just fine, but not too much beyond that. Crispin Glover, as a reporter,
Pruitt Taylor Vince as a sheriff and Tia Texada as Betty's L.A. roommate
Rosa are serviceable if hardly memorable, although Aaron Eckhart is
first-rate as Betty's jerk of a husband, Del.
Nurse Betty is a film much like its lead character: traumatized. If there
was a better, more streamlined (or focused) screenplay to work off of, maybe
this might have worked. Neil LaBute is a talented director; unfortunately,
he chose the wrong film to make his leap into mainstream cinema with.
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