Nurse Betty
Encyclopedia
Nurse Betty is a 2000 American comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Neil LaBute
Neil LaBute
Neil N. LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.-Early life:LaBute was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Marian, a hospital receptionist, and Richard LaBute, a long-haul truck driver. LaBute is of French Canadian, English and Irish ancestry, and was raised in Spokane,...

 starring Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...

 as a sweet Kansas waitress who undergoes a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite soap actor.

For her performance, Zellweger won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Plot

Opening in a small Kansas town, Betty (Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...

), a kind and considerate diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...

 waitress, is a fan of the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

 A Reason to Love. She has no idea that her husband, Del (Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Eckhart
Aaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...

), a car salesman, is having an affair with his secretary and that he intends to leave Betty to pursue a relationship with the secretary. She also doesn't know that her husband supplements his income by selling drugs
DRUGS
Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows are an American post-hardcore band formed in 2010. They released their debut self-titled album on February 22, 2011.- Formation :...

 out of the car dealership
Car dealership
A car dealership or vehicle local distribution is a business that sells new or used cars at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. It employs automobile salespeople to do the selling...

. When she calls to leave a message about borrowing a Buick LeSabre
Buick LeSabre
1959LeSabre and all other 1959 Buicks not only got new names, but all-new styling as well, adopting the new GM B- and C-body used on all of the corporation's full-sized cars...

 for her birthday, her husband tells Betty to take a different car, as the LeSabre (unbeknownst to Betty) has stolen drugs hidden in the trunk.

Two hitmen
Hitman
A hitman is a person hired to kill another person.- Hitmen in organized crime :Hitmen are largely linked to the world of organized crime. Hitmen are hired people who kill people for money. Notable examples include Murder, Inc., Mafia hitmen and Richard Kuklinski.- Other cases involving hitmen...

, Charlie and Wesley (Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

 and Chris Rock
Chris Rock
Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...

), show up at the house with Betty's husband. The hitmen torture Betty's husband into revealing that he has hidden the drugs in the trunk of a car, but Wesley wants to scalp
Scalping
Scalping is the act of removing another person's scalp or a portion of their scalp, either from a dead body or from a living person. The initial purpose of scalping was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war...

 him anyway. Betty witnesses the murder and experiences a fugue state
Fugue state
A fugue state, formally dissociative fugue or psychogenic fugue , is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality...

, escaping the reality of murder into the comforting fantasy of the soap opera. In her mind, she assumes the identity of one of the characters in the daytime drama, a nurse.

That evening, Sheriff Eldon Ballard (Pruitt Taylor Vince
Pruitt Taylor Vince
Pruitt Taylor Vince is an American award-winning character actor who has made many appearances in film and television.-Personal life:Vince was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...

), local reporter (Crispin Glover
Crispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...

), and several policemen examine the crime scene while Betty calmly packs a suitcase. She seems oblivious to the murder, even with the investigation going on right in her house. At the police station, a psychiatrist examines her. Betty spends the night at her friend's house, sleeping in a child's bedroom with the innocence of a little girl. In the middle of the night, she gets into her car and drives off. Betty's next stop is a bar in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, where the lady bartender talks about her inspiring vacation in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, and Betty tells her that she was once engaged to a famous surgeon (describing the lead character from A Reason to Love – not the actor who portrays him, but the character himself).

Meanwhile, the two hitmen are trying to find her, as they have finally realized that she must have the car with the drugs. As they search, Charlie begins falling in love with his image of Betty, to Wesley's consternation. In Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

, Betty tries to get a job as a nurse while looking for her long-lost "ex-fiancé." She is turned down due to having "forgotten" her résumé and references but manages to get a job in the pharmacy
Pharmacy
Pharmacy is the health profession that links the health sciences with the chemical sciences and it is charged with ensuring the safe and effective use of pharmaceutical drugs...

 due to her help in saving the life of the victim of a drive-by shooting
Drive-by shooting
A drive-by shooting is a form of hit-and-run tactic, a personal attack carried out by an individual or individuals from a moving or momentarily stopped vehicle without use of headlights to avoid being noticed. It often results in bystanders being shot instead of, or as well as, the intended target...

.

Despite an injunction against touching any patients, Betty becomes popular with them and their families. She ends up living with Rosa (Tia Texada
Tia Texada
Tia Texada is an American actress and singer. She is probably best known for portraying the role of Sgt. Maritza Cruz from the American television show Third Watch and for her role as Shay on ABC Family's Huge.Texada was born in Louisiana to a reflexologist mother and an insurance agent father...

), a Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

 legal secretary who has had a series of painful love affairs and offers to help Betty find her surgeon friend. Rosa learns that "David" is just a soap opera character, and she goes to the pharmacy window to confront her. Betty thinks her friend is jealous and is impervious to the revelation.

The lawyer has an idea and supplies tickets to a charity function where George McCord (Greg Kinnear
Greg Kinnear
Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...

), the actor portraying David, will be appearing. Betty meets George at the function. George is inclined to dismiss her as an over-imaginative fan, but something about her compels him to walk back and talk to her some more. He begins to think that Betty is an actress determined to get a part in the soap opera, so he decides to play along. After three hours of her "staying in character," he takes her home.

George begins falling in love with her, and he and his producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

 decide to bring her onto the show as a new character: Nurse Betty. When Betty arrives on set, she falls out of her fantasy world back into real life, as seeing the inner workings of a television show snaps her back into reality. After two failed takes, she realizes that she is on a set and that the people she thought were real are just characters portrayed by actors. George confronts her for being a "crazy person," and Betty walks out.

Now recovered, Betty begins to tell Rosa what happened when the two hitmen come into the house to decide what to do with them after they find the car with the drugs outside Rosa's house. The killers are in turn interrupted by the reporter and Sheriff Ballard from Betty's hometown who have also tracked her down. A standoff ensues in which Ballard pulls out a gun from an ankle holster and shoots and kills Wesley, who is distracted by watching a re-run airing of 'A Reason to Love.' At this point, Wesley is revealed to be Charlie's son. Charlie, rather than be arrested, decides not to kill Betty and commits suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 in the bathroom.

George offers Betty a job on the show. She appears in 63 episodes and takes a vacation in Rome. Betty later plans to pursue nursing as a career.

Cast

  • Renée Zellweger
    Renée Zellweger
    Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...

     as Betty Sizemore
  • Morgan Freeman
    Morgan Freeman
    Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...

     as Charlie
  • Chris Rock
    Chris Rock
    Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted in the US as the 5th greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central...

     as Wesley
  • Greg Kinnear
    Greg Kinnear
    Gregory "Greg" Kinnear is an American actor and television personality who first rose to stardom in 1991. He has appeared in more than 20 motion pictures, and was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in As Good as It Gets.-Early life:Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of...

     as George McCord (Dr. David Ravell)
  • Aaron Eckhart
    Aaron Eckhart
    Aaron Edward Eckhart is an American film and stage actor. Born in California, he moved to England at the age of 13, when his father relocated the family. Several years later, he began his acting career by performing in school plays, before moving to Sydney, Australia, for his high school senior year...

     as Del Sizemore
  • Pruitt Taylor Vince
    Pruitt Taylor Vince
    Pruitt Taylor Vince is an American award-winning character actor who has made many appearances in film and television.-Personal life:Vince was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...

     as Sheriff Eldon Ballard
  • Tia Texada
    Tia Texada
    Tia Texada is an American actress and singer. She is probably best known for portraying the role of Sgt. Maritza Cruz from the American television show Third Watch and for her role as Shay on ABC Family's Huge.Texada was born in Louisiana to a reflexologist mother and an insurance agent father...

     as Rosa Hernandez
  • Allison Janney
    Allison Janney
    Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...

     as Lyla Branch
  • Harriet Sansom Harris
    Harriet Sansom Harris
    Harriet Sansom Harris , often credited as "Harriet Harris" is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Bebe Glazer on Frasier and Felicia Tilman on Desperate Housewives. She won a Tony Award in 2002 as a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing the evil white slaver Mrs. Meers in...

     as Ellen
  • Crispin Glover
    Crispin Glover
    Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...

     as Roy Ostery
  • Elizabeth Mitchell
    Elizabeth Mitchell
    Elizabeth Mitchell , is an American actress/modelwho is known for her roles as Dr. Juliet Burke on ABC's TV series Lost and as FBI agent Erica Evans on V. She has starred in such films as The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, and Gia.-Early life:Mitchell was born Elizabeth...

     as Chloe Jensen
  • Kathleen Wilhoite
    Kathleen Wilhoite
    Kathleen Wilhoite is an American film and television actress, as well as a singer-songwriter. She also voiced the title character in the animated series Pepper Ann...

     as Sue Ann Rogers
  • Sheila Kelley
    Sheila Kelley (American actress)
    Sheila Kelley is an American television actress. She is best known for her roles as Gwen Taylor on L.A. Law and as Dr. Charlotte "Charley" Bennett Hayes on Sisters.-Early life:...

     as Joyce
  • Christopher McDonald (deleted scene
    Deleted scene
    In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...

    ) as Duane Cooley

Box office

The film opened at #2 at the North American box office making $7.1 million USD in its opening weekend, behind The Watcher
The Watcher (film)
The Watcher is a 2000 American thriller directed by Joe Charbanic and starring James Spader, Keanu Reeves and Marisa Tomei. Set in Chicago, the film is about a retired FBI agent who is stalked and taunted by a serial killer.-Plot:...

, which opened at the top spot.

Awards

  • American Comedy Awards
    American Comedy Awards
    The American Comedy Awards were a group of awards presented annually in the United States from 1987 to 2001 recognizing performances and performers in the field of comedy, with an emphasis on television comedy and comedy films...

    :
    • Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture (Renée Zellweger)
  • Black Reel Awards
    Black Reel Awards
    The Black Reel Awards began in 2000 and were designed to annually recognize and celebrate the achievements of black people in feature, independent and television films...

    :
    • Best Actor (Morgan Freeman)
    • Best Supporting Actor (Chris Rock)
  • British Independent Film Awards
    British Independent Film Awards
    The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...

    :
    • Best Foreign Film – English Language
  • Cannes Film Festival
    2000 Cannes Film Festival
    The 2000 Cannes Film Festival started on May 14 and ran until May 25. The Palme d'Or went to the Danish film Dancer in the Dark by Lars von Trier.-Jury:* Luc Besson, President * Jonathan Demme * Nicole Garcia...

    :
    • Best Screenplay
      Best Screenplay Award (Cannes Film Festival)
      The Best Screenplay Award is an award presented at the Cannes Film Festival. It is chosen by the jury from the 'official section' of movies at the festival...

       (James Flamberg and John C. Richards)
  • Edgar Allan Poe Awards:
    • Best Motion Picture
  • Golden Globe Awards:
    • Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Renée Zellweger)
  • Image Awards:
    • Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture (Morgan Freeman)
  • London Film Critics:
    • Actress of the Year (Renée Zellweger)
  • Satellite Awards:
    • Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Renée Zellweger)
    • Best Picture – Musical or Comedy
    • Best Supporting Actor – Musical or Comedy Morgan Freeman

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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