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Tossed into a post-traumatic state after witnessing two hit men (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock) dispatch her scummy, used car salesman of a husband (Aaron Eckhart), Betty imagines that the soap opera heartthrob of her dreams is actually in love with her, too. So, in search of her romantic destiny, the winsome amnesiac heads for the Left Coast where Dr. David Ravell (Greg Kinnear) is a renowned cardiac man at fictitious Loma Vista Hospital on the daytime drama, "A Reason To Love." Unfortunately, the bickering gunmen must tail the daydreamer on her fantastic odyssey (she may know something).
Certainly, it is not suggested here that readers flip their wigs en masse and thereby conjure a similar great escape from the Sturm und Drang of the human experience. But a viewing of this spiritually uplifting, often hysterical black comedy might be just what the doctor ordered.
Reminding of the Brothers Coen (Fargo, Raising Arizona) in the quirky way that he fashions his loony characters and develops daft plot situations, director Neil LaBute also takes a devilishly good-natured poke at middle America. His interpretation of writer John C. Richards's motley crew of idiosyncratic personae are humorously and sympathetically fleshed out for all their peculiar worth by a cast of fine performers. But Renee Zellweger deserves an Oscar nomination for contributing the oddball performance of the season. Only a portrayal this emotionally convincing could keep the zany yet equally chancy premise from badly misfiring. Doing the actor's version of a tightrope walk, her Nurse Betty straddles the fence between illusion and reality with magnetically daring panache.
However, because Mr. LaBute's movie is about two fantasies on a collision course, Betty isn't the only one living in an altered state. Dramatically counterbalancing the title character is Morgan Freeman's none too shoddy depiction of Charlie, a paid killer in the twilight of his career. Wont to wax philosophical as he grandiloquently conjectures his legacy, the romantic murderer features himself the Don Quixote of hit men. And thus in a wonderfully incomprehensible twisting of elements, he has whimsically decided that this final target is his Dulcinea. Imbuing Betty with all manner of virtue, he thereby elevates himself to the status of gentleman killer.
All this poetic oration as they travel cross-country in pursuit of Betty drives the button man's young henchman crazy. Played by Chris Rock in a splendid display of seriocomic rage, apprentice Wesley is the proverbial loose canon. Possessing hair-trigger nerves, he is at once threatening and unpredictable. Yet in what must be the most telling disclosure about this movie's out-of-kilter insanity, harsh-toned Wesley is the story's voice of reason, a violent pragmatist among self-actualising idealists. Everyone else seems to be colouring outside of the lines. He just wants to take care of the business at hand. But if you ask him why, he's hard put to explain. Odds are you've had a boss or two like Wesley, no?
The other twenty-five percent of this film's main quartet of players is actually two characters. Played by Greg Kinnear, they are George McCord, the soap star, and fictional Dr. David Ravell, the handsome M.D. who dauntlessly perseveres despite his wife's recent death (a decapitation, but they still haven't found the head). And if that's not bad enough, there's a sexual harassment suit being brought by a spurned nurse; plus a conniving jealous colleague, Dr. Lonnie Walsh (Laird Mackintosh), is trying to steal the good doctor's thunder in the operating room. Hence, upon her arrival in L.A., after some Cinderella-style plot manipulations place Betty at a fund-raiser attended by the entire cast of "A Reason To Love," it's no wonder that the sleepwalker slaps her true love's archrival.
Save for the recipient of the cuff, the soap crew thinks Nurse Betty's impetuosity in defence of her avowed true love is a great gag; a party stunt no doubt calculated to win a spot on the show. Matinee idol George is intrigued. And while he may not know it at first, he is also smitten by the extent of Betty's adulation. They peel off from the gala crowd to compare notes. Amazed at what he thinks is Betty's dedication to the stage, he observes that she hasn't broken character once. In the reflection of her sincere eyes he sees Dr. David Ravell, perfect person personified. He says he hasn't been this impressed since he studied with Stella Adler in New York, name-dropping fop that he is.
Meanwhile, wending their way to the coast, the hit men cometh. And push comes to shove when they finally arrive. So stay tuned for an action-packed flourish leading up to the climax. But for the time being, Betty has found a temporary home. Through some heroics the nurse wannabe performed during a shoot-out between the police and some bad guys just outside the hospital emergency room (she had just been turned down for a nursing job), she wins the gratitude of a Hispanic family. Betty explains that she's come to California to be reunited with Dr. David Ravell, "the famous heart surgeon," but that thus far she's been unable to locate him. And with that, Rosa (Tia Texada), the sister of the man she saved, takes her in.
George now adds the role of gentleman caller to his cast of characterisations. And Rosa doesn't like it. The fiery hostess has put two and two together and is confounded by what she views as an unfathomable charade. How dare this crazy woman wash ashore and immediately land the man of her dreams, literally? She informs her guest that David is really named George. But retorting with the kind of dumbfounding blind conviction worthy of Gracie Allen, innocent Betty matter-of-factly replies: "That's funny. Half of David's friends call him George."
This is indeed wacky stuff. And you'd think that maintaining a semblance of credibility would be its biggest challenge. Yet like a drunk watched over by a guardian angel, the story manages to weave its way through all manner of potential hazards without once falling flat on its face. Call it the likeability factor, but the more outrageous director LaBute's film gets, the more intoxicating its humanistic message. Practising an entertainingly strange version of laugh therapy, Nurse Betty is good for what ails you.
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