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
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

Kansas City waitress, Betty (Renée Zellweger), 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 Los Angeles, California 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 in which she drove off. Charlie (Morgan Freeman), an aging hitman 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

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

The amount of cupcake left on Del's lips changes from shot to shot when he is by the birdcage.

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Quotes

Betty: [gesturing at Wesley's meat sandwich] You sure you don't want a salad?
Wesley: You sure you want a tip when I'm done?

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Crazy Credits

When the end credits are done, the film's title appears

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Connections

Referenced in Supernatural: Lucifer Rising (2009)

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Soundtracks

Cuando Me Quieres
Written by and Marty Blasick Frankie Pine
Performed by Frankie

User Reviews

A New Step in Mass Media Layering

The Bad: The gimmick of this film, as with very many, is contrast. This time its the well-exercised contrast between mindless brutality and open, honest innocence. What's new is the ratcheting up of the extremes. The violence is a new extreme in this context. How much more can we escalate? Is our own innocence so permanently numb?

The Good: This film is remarkably sophisticated in its self-referential layering. Here is an indicator that in this category at least the general intelligence level in the US is rising. It takes real abstract thinking to appreciate this, and one imagines that an audience in the 80s would be thoroughly puzzled.

Simple films with theatric self-reference usually mix real life with a play-within-the-play. "Shakespeare in Love" and "illuminata" are of this ilk. Slightly more complex is real life within the play as with "The Truman Show." But here we have a new and lovely evolution, six layers of self-reference.

We have the layer of the real-life Renee and her film character. I am in no doubt that the marketing of Renee as the new America's Sweetheart is the real basis of this effort. So Renee playing the public Renee. Then we have Renee playing Betty. We are lead to believe that the three are simultaneously real. But this has been common for 75 years.

What's new is Betty "becoming" Nurse Betty. Another layer, and then full circle as the "real" nurse Betty becomes the play Nurse Betty. This last is assumed before it actually happens. Finally, we have Freeman's fantasy angel Betty, which we assume is the root of all the conflated layers. That makes six layers by my count. Think about it: this film requires a sophisticated viewer. As it will likely be a big hit, that sophistication must exist in the masses. Wonderful!

Incidentally, only two people in this film can act, and one is not Chris Rock. What's with this guy?

Details

Country:

Germany USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

8 September 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Nurse Betty

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,145,950, 10 September 2000

Gross USA:

$25,170,054

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$29,364,989

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