Nurse Betty; Rock don't meet critics prescripted comedic expectations

By Leslie Boxer

Daily Arts Writer

With all of the hype surrounding "Nurse Betty" - it was the only American film to place at this year's Cannes Film Festival (with an award for John C. Richard's screenplay) - you would expect the film to be tremendous. Perhaps this anticipation is the problem. "Nurse Betty" has been called a hilarious comedy and its poster and advertisements are speckled with rave reviews from top critics. Unfortunately all of that buildup has lead to a total disappointment. It is not hilarious - instead, "Nurse Betty" is funny moments that punctuate slow and often tedious dialogue.

The film is about Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger), who is not actually a nurse, but instead is a waitress in a small Kansas diner. Betty is a sweet and mild-mannered woman who is compulsively addicted to a "General Hospital" style soap opera called "Reason to Live." She is enamoured by its heart-throb surgeon, Dr. David Ravell (Greg Kinnear) and seems to involve herself emotionally with the events of the show. It is not until Betty's insensitive, cheating husband (Aaron Eckhart) gets into a bit of trouble with some hit men that anything disrupts Betty's generally happy existence in Fair Oaks, Kansas.

While quietly watching a video tape of that afternoon's episode of "Reason to Live," Betty accidentally witnesses the brutal murder of her husband, Del, by two hit men. After watching such an atrocity, Betty promptly removes the event from her memory in a form of post-traumatic shock. She rewinds the part of the show she has missed and fixates on the idea that Dr. Ravell is her ex-fiancee. It is at this point that Betty's true pathology begins. This scene, which is constantly flashing back and forth between the murder and the soap opera, is a perfect introduction to the film. It juxtaposes the reality of Del's death with the unrealistic world of daytime television.

In her attempt to rekindle the flame with her ex-lover, Betty heads out to Los Angeles believing that she has left her husband behind because they had grown apart. Meanwhile back in Kansas, the two hit men, played by Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock, realize that they have botched the job and now must find Betty and the cocaine coincidently hidden in her car.

As we watch Betty flee Kansas as a result of a traumatic event, it is impossible not to think of "The Wizard of Oz." One of the characters along the way even references the film in case we didn't catch the similarities. The analogy to "The Wizard of Oz" serves the film well - it sets up the tone of this fairy tale adventure.

The story is in every way a fairy tale. We are caught in Betty's reality, a distorted vision that intertwines real life with the action of a soap opera. In maneuvering the film to depict this inverted sense of reality, Neil LaBute, the film's director, astutely changes the audience's perception of Betty from a nut case to someone that is endearing.

Once arriving in Los Angeles, Betty searches for Dr. David Ravell and the fictious hospital that he works at, Loma Vista. While not a certified nurse, Betty lands herself a job at a Los Angeles hospital after miraculously relieving a pneumothorax; a procedure that she had seen performed on the show. While settling into life in L.A. and constantly on the lookout for Dr. Ravell, the two hit men are gaining ground and emotional ties to the case.

It turns out, Charlie (Morgan Freeman), develops a whimsical love interest in Betty. He tries to figure her out while developing a certain pride in her character. Charlie's love interest balances out the bizarre love triangle that evolves throughout the film.

Somehow, when Betty finally meets George McCord, the actor that plays Dr. Ravell, he is not frightened by her unwavering belief that he is, indeed, his television character. Instead, McCord believes Betty to be a dedicated and talented method actor that is trying to land a part on the soap opera. And suddenly Betty's reality becomes the film's reality.

Amidst all of the confusion, Renee Zellweger pulls off an outstanding performance. We never doubt that her psychoses are real. While most of the time the audience pities Betty, it is not the kind of pity evoked from seeing someone who is truly mentally unstable. Instead it is pity that is oddly mixed with a sort of warm fuzzy feeling. These mixed emotions are entirely due to Zellweger's performance - it is both chipper and poignantly real.

Similarly, Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock are a great duo. Chris Rock is funny as hit man who loves his job and Freeman plays an introverted and thoughtful hit man very well. So, what is wrong with this creative, well-acted comedy? Unfortunately, it lacks sparkle. Its pace is too slow and takes too long to develop. There are numerous road scenes that drag on and cannot even be lightened up by the occasional joke. In addition, because the film is so far fetched it becomes difficult to lose sight of the ridiculousness of the story. Overall, the film ends up to be a lot of hype and does not live up to its expectations.

Courtesy of USA Films

Chris Rock, Morgan Freeman and Renee Zellweiger star in "Nurse Betty."