Nurse Betty (2000)

Comedy about a widow's post-traumatic obsession with a soap star.

Director:

Neil LaBute

Writers:

John C. Richards (story), John C. Richards (screenplay)

Stars:

Renée Zellweger, Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock

Won 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Morgan Freeman	...	Charlie
Renée Zellweger	...	Betty
Chris Rock	...	Wesley
Greg Kinnear	...	Dr. David Ravell
Aaron Eckhart	...	Del
Tia Texada	...	Rosa
Crispin Glover	...	Roy Ostery
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Ballard
Allison Janney	...	Lyla
Kathleen Wilhoite	...	Sue Ann
Elizabeth Mitchell	...	Chloe
Susan Barnes	...	Darlene
Harriet Sansom Harris	...	Ellen
Sung Hi Lee	...	Jasmine
Laird Macintosh	...	Dr. Lonnie Walsh

Storyline

A Kansas City waitress with dreams of becoming a nurse becomes delusional after seeing her no-good car salesman husband murdered. Becoming delusional from shock, she becomes convinced that she is the former fiancée of her soap opera idol. What she also believes is that the soap opera is real and goes to LA to find the hospital where he works as a cardiologist. Meanwhile, her husband's murderers are searching for the drugs stolen by her husband and, as luck would have it, they are stored in the trunk of the car she drove off in. Freeman, an aging hit man planning his retirement after this job, also becomes delusional about the woman he is tracking.

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Plot Keywords:

police officer | surgical theater | television camera | television commercial | television producer | 

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Taglines:

This September Get Ready For Nurse Betty.

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language and a scene of sexuality

Details

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

8 September 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Betty

Filming Locations:

Stahl House, Case House 22 - 1635 Woods Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$24,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,145,950, 10 September 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$25,167,270, 17 December 2000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,133,268, 7 December 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Gramercy Pictures (I),Pacifica Film,Propaganda Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Paul Threlkeld, the grip on the soap opera set of the show-within-a-show, was the dolly grip for the movie.

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Goofs

When Betty gets to her friend's house after being questioned at the police station, the blankets covering her in bed change drastically.

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Quotes

[about to perform a medical procedure on a gunshot victim]
Betty: No, I have to do this or he'll die. It's OK, I've seen it done once.

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Connections

Referenced in Friday Night with Jonathan Ross: Episode #13.13 (2007)

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Soundtracks

If U Don't Want None
Written by Suga-T (as T. Stevens) and Kevin Gardner (as K. Gardner)
Performed by Suga-T (as Suga T)
Courtesy of Jive Records

User Reviews

Inventive and weirdly funny throughout, but touching, too, and Zellweger amazes!

Nurse Betty (2000)

This is a sleeper, a dark comedy with enough inventive twists to call to mind The Truman Show but with a greater sense of reality to hold it down. Renee Zellweger is flawless as the naive, sweet, but utterly detached young woman named Betty who is addicted to a soap opera called "A Reason to Love." This seems sweet enough, but her husband is a jerk (totally) and things start to spiral, and get dizzy, as reality even for the viewer starts to shift ground.

Not that you are ever confused about what is happening or who the good guys are. The good guys are not Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock, for sure, as this unlikely and comedic father and son duo get involved, incidentally at first, in Betty's strange inner and outer life. A chase of sorts ensues, the soap opera becomes reality, and then reality becomes soap opera. And it's really hilarious and inventive and fast paced.

Is it a total work of genius? Probably not. Maybe Charlie Kaufman would have added another twist in there (I'm not sure how), and certainly some of the side characters could have seemed less cardboard, or less awkward as actors. But Zellweger is unbelievable (really, your jaw might drop at how convincing she could play her mental blindness, and her awakening, of sorts). And Morgan Freeman is his usually convincing and engaging self.

The utterly disgusting violence of one 20 second scene might turn off some viewers near the beginning, but if you can keep watching, the movie gets better from there. Much better.