Zellweger is Betty, as naive and kind as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, a comparison made explicit by her blue-and-white-checked apron and her Kansas residence. Through a series of unpleasant events involving her loutish husband (LaBute stalwart Aaron Eckhart, sporting a truly unfortunate mullet) and a pair of hitmen (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock), she is traumatized into blotting out reality by believing she's the former fiancee of the suave main character of her favorite soap opera, Dr. David Ravell (Kinnear, who, while handsome, is not as hot as my doctor). She takes off for Hollywood to "reunite" with him, the hitmen pursue (unbeknownst to her), and she sails obliviously through a plot as outrageous as that of any soap.
The movie's funny, engaging, unpredictable, and a little sad. Zellweger is terrific as the sweetly lost Betty, and Kinnear is hilarious in exactly the kind of role I'd wanted to see him in. He gets to be the romantic, comic leading man and the arrogant, manipulative weasel, his two strongest characterizations. Freeman and Rock play off each other perfectly. And I'm pleased to see that freak par excellence Crispin Glover is still in the land of the living -- and employed.
My only complaint is about one scene, early in the movie, that is excessively violent and stomach turning. I understand the argument that it has to be something extraordinarily disturbing to shock Betty into dreamland, but the cruel nature of the scene runs so contrary to the spirit of the rest of the film that it feels glaringly out of place. But aside from that misstep, Nurse Betty is clever, well written, and highly recommended.
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