ROVIN' AND RAVIN' WITH MIKE
Copyright © 2000 by Michael Segers, All rights reserved
Brought to you by Peanut.org
Just What the Doctor Ordered
Nurse
Betty
Betty
Sizemore - Renée Zellweger
Charlie
- Morgan Freeman
Wesley
- Chris Rock
George
McCord (Dr. Ravell) - Greg Kinnear
Del
- Aaron Eckhart
Rosa
- Tia Texada
Roy
- Crispin Glover
Ballard
- Pruitt Taylor Vince
Director
- Neil LaBute
Runtime,
110 minutes,
Rated
R for violence, language and a scene of sexuality.
Nurse Betty is on duty, and I suspect the
bedpans just got warmer. I know my feelings about movies have. Director Neil
LaBute, writer John C. Richards, and their amazing cast send me scurrying back
to films as diverse as Raising Arizona and Being There to find fit
company for their bittersweet comedy/fantasy. But, in a season of dreary
rehashes of dreary situations, for all its resonance Nurse Betty stands
on its own.
One thing you must understand is that this is
not the screwball comedy that you are seeing advertisements for; well, screwball
comedy is part of it. But, I spent more time with goose bumps on my neck than I
did with laughter shaking my body, and full credit for that goes to the
downright eerie performance by Renée Zellweger (seen earlier this summer in Me,
Myself & Irene). If she does not get at least a nomination for an Oscar,
the Academy should close its hallowed doors. Without her distinctive presence,
believability, and even sweetness, I don't know if this film's many twists and
turns could have held together.
Her performance stands out, even when she
is sharing the screen with Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock, and Greg Kinnear, none of
whom disgraces himself, to put it mildly. Director LaBute keeps all these folks
on track and lenses some sizable chunks of American landscape along the way. He
captures the magic and the reality of the script (judged the best at the Cannes
Film Festival) by Richards. Everything works.
The film begins in a small town in
Kansas, where Betty and husband Del (poster-boy for ugly hairdos) share two
cockatiels and a sort of marriage. She is a waitress, he is a used car dealer,
and his secretary is his girlfriend. Del is also involved in a drug operation
and has recently tried to cheat the higher-ups, who have sent hit men Charlie
and Wesley to straighten things out. We catch Del, Charlie, and Wesley on what
must be the worst and bloodiest bad-hair day ever caught on film.
Betty--and I am trying not to give away too much of the
plot--witnesses a murder. To escape the horror, she retreats into a fantasy
world based on her favorite soap opera. She heads for Los Angeles, confidant
that she will marry the handsome young Dr. Ravell. Someone asks about her, after
she leaves, whether she was trying to find something more in life.
"No," comes the reply. "She is just trying to find something in
life."
Unknown to her, Charlie and Wesley are
pursuing her. I have a great trouble dealing with comedies about organized crime
and hit men, such as this summer's release The Crew and last year’s The
Whole Nine Yards. Yet, the unexpected chemistry of Freeman and Rock, make
their exchanges bearable, and a finely-honed script make them enjoyable. (Be
warned, however, that the film has three bloody, violent scenes.)
For all its screwiness and for all its
violence, the film is about the sweet sadness of lonely people seeking love.
Betty's search for the fictitious doctor is reflected in Charlie's pursuit of
the idealized Betty. (Don Quixote and his Dulcinea must be lurking in some
little roadside honky-tonk nearby.) In one of the goose-bumpiest moments of the
film, and one of the riskiest little bits of film-making I've ever seen, Charlie
imagines that he and Betty are dancing on the edge of the Grand Canyon. That
would be a long way to fall, if the scene didn't work. But, it does, and Wesley
brings it back to earth without anybody getting hurt.
Like Chance in Being There, Betty
is accepted on her own terms by people who don't have a clue as to what those
terms are. She saves a life, gets a job in a hospital, and even meets her
dream-doctor. Does he cure what ails her? Sorry, that's for me to know and for
you to go to the theater to find out. Finally, Betty finds someone much more
important than her doctor. In some ways, this is the same story in which
Zellweger's real-life boyfriend Jim Carrey played, The Truman Show, the
story of someone who is not quite complete finding who he or she really is.
After suffering through an epidemic of
miserable films lately, I feel downright cured by Nurse Betty. My feet
are dry, and I even have a noble thought or two left over from this lovable,
unexpected film. Don't take my word for it, however. Check out the views and
review of Nurse Betty by Harvey S. Karten, pioneer and leader among
online film critics--
www.azreporter.net/movies/karten/nursebetty.html
Keep your feet dry, your heart full of noble
thoughts, and if your feet are turned toward the theater where Nurse Betty is
showing, the prognosis is very good.