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:

She's chasing a dream... they're chasing her.

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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

George McCord: You're a grip! Go... grip something!

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Connections

References Shaft (1971)

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Soundtracks

Don't You Know
Written by Bobby Worth
Performed by Della Reese
Courtesy of The RCA Label of BMG Entertainment

User Reviews

An underrated movie on how people sometimes don't see the difference between reality and fiction

Nurse Betty is really an interesting movie. I guess we all know someone who is so convinced that the characters in a soap opera are real, that you can't explain them with any means that these are just actors and not real persons.

'Nurse Betty' isn't a nurse at all. In real life she is an ordinary housewife who works at a diner. To escape from her awful husband and the problems in her miserable life, she has become a very dedicated fan of a soap opera. After she witnessed her husband being murdered, she goes into some kind of a shock and she loses all grip on reality. She thinks she's in love with one of the characters from the soap opera, a doctor, and decides that she'll visit him and start a family with him. The hit men however think that she knows too much and go after her to kill her.

As I already said, the subject is quite recognizable (if you leave the professional hit men and the murder out of it) and the movie was funny. The story was well directed and the actors did a fine job. It had everything I always want to see when watching a comedy. I give it a 7.5/10.