We’ve got a good cast here, and the title “Nurse Betty” suggests something really good, like “Nurse Jackie”. Unfortunately, no such luck . Renee Zellweger starred as Betty. Hey have you seen her in Judy – wow, she was fantastic. Greg Kinnear was the costar, playing two roles – a fictional soap opera star (Dr. David Ravell) and the actor who played him (George). I kept staring at the younger Greg KinnEAR and noticed something – he has big, flapping chimp ears. I mean really big – especially in profile shots. Maybe he got them trimmed down in subsequent years? I haven’t noticed this before. Speaking of big ears, I just got a haircut that I put off for almost six months due to the covid shutdowns. I also forgot the usual trimmer setting I ask for so I got a shorter cut than expected. When I got home and looked in the mirror, my ears looked YUGE! I mean big, frickin’, flying Dumbo ears! Even bigger than Greg’s. Jiminy Christmas, I looked ridiculous… I’ll be wearing a ski cap for the next few weeks.
So where was I? Oh, the cast – a few more interesting characters: Morgan Freeman (Charlie) and Chris Rock (Wesley) played the two antagonists. Sorry, but you two just don’t make believable bad guys. Too many roles on the other side. And Morgan’s character Charlie was just as silly and unbelievable as Betty and George. The always good Crispin Glover (hey he looks like a good-looking Willem Dafoe) played Roy, a reporter. Aaron Eckhart played Betty’s douchebag husband Del. He doesn’t last too long and that’s a good thing – I’m a big fan of Aaron but this role was a miss. Finally, Pruitt “the wobbly eyes guy” Vince played a bumbling Sheriff.
Here was my major issue with this film – the three main characters (Betty, George/Dr. David and Charlie) were so absurdly unrealistic and their behavior so unbelievable that it ruined the experience. How so? Betty was a person who was so completely delusional, she refused to believe her love for Dr. David wasn’t real, even after meeting him as the actor George. And then George being so gullible that he took a complete stranger and potential stalker into his car, drove her home, then invited her to join the cast of his soap opera. Finally, Charlie (who was charged to kill Betty) became so enamored with her he refused to kill her when he finally had the chance. Not only did this destroy the narrative, it made the characters beyond unlikeable, to the point where I was rooting for their demise. Sadly, my wishes weren’t granted.
Overall an unsatisfying movie and ending for me. The wife liked it but for me…. meh! Three Nurse Jackie opioids out of ten.