Well Deserved Praise

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

This movie is a roller coaster of a good time. The characters jump out at you in this unique awkward kind of way. Betty (Renee Zellweger) is sweet, abused and under-appreciated and she goes through what all undervalued people wish they could go through. She finds herself and the life she was meant to have through "tragedy and loss." The tragedy of witnessing a horrendous crime and the loss of her sense of serenity and calm.Morgan Freeman's character sympathizes with her in this way and is inadvertently drawn to Betty for it. The characters are made of the same lost and misused souls. The story line at first seems silly and just not thought out, but when the characters start to develop on their journeys you see the innocence and the loneliness that their lives are made up of. The two find themselves projecting the life they want into reality and when they are snapped out of it you feel a combination of relief and grief, and you hope that they are able to cope with the reality they are left with.That said, this movie is definitely not for everyone, but for those who appreciate and enjoy a comedy with deeper and more realistically sad under-tones this movie is worth a viewing. 7.2/10

Minor spoilers follow, but nothing you won't have learned from reading the back of the DVD.Held together by a wonderful central performance from Renée Zellweger, Nurse Betty is a dark yet deceptively good-natured comedy.Suffering from an emotional and mental breakdown after witnessing her sleazy husband's murder, already-troubled and desperately unhappy waitress Betty becomes convinced a character on her favourite daytime soap is her long-lost fiancé and sets off from Kansas to Hollywood to find him.Instead of making jokes at the expense of Betty's mental state, writer John C. Richards is very sympathetic, with Zellweger portraying her as a lost innocent, not entirely helpless but tragically vulnerable nonetheless. Crucially she's never really a victim despite this and while she undoubtedly suffers horribly the motives of the characters who treat her poorly are all understandable - even Greg Kinnear as the object of her deluded affections may be an egotistical, blinkered, arrogant pig but he genuinely believes that she's merely a quirky wannabe actress with bags of talent rather than an insane stalker.The farcical ending where all the main protagonists descend on the same place (in this instance Betty's house) at the same time to have it out is as old as cinema itself but it works quite well here, even if the shift in tone is unfortunate.Zellweger is ably supported by Kinnear and Morgan Freeman both doing solid work, and it's especially pleasing to see Chris Rock show restraint in his earlier scenes.Not nearly as cruel as you might expect, and not at all mean-spirited, Nurse Betty - while far from being a laugh riot - is a solid entertainment elevated to something considerably more by the lead actress.

...not in keeping with the otherwise excellent comedic genre of the movie. Amazing how our perceptions of the later work of actors such as Freeman, Zellwegger, Kinnear leave us disconcerted by this mature, edgy indie.True, Zellwegger is cute, Kinnear gorgeous and Freeman (initially) avuncular (when will that Mandela biopic script be ready?), but this piece probes the seedy, exploitative, delusional side of human nature with wincing accuity, whilst staying (net) on the right side of feelgood.Just to be clear: DON'T treat this as a cosy family romcom. Someone will be traumatised and that will spoil an otherwise enriching view.

NURSE BETTY is a delicious black comedy that is an affectionate send-up of the film noir genre that takes some effective swipes at the television industry as well. Renee Zellweger stars as Betty, a sweet-natured waitress and housewife who is a devoted follower of a soap opera called "A Reason to Love." One evening, while watching her tape of today's episode, Betty witnesses the brutal murder of her slimy, drug-dealer husband (Aaron Eckhart)by a pair of ruthless hit men (Morgan Freeman, Chris Rock). This incident causes a microchip in Betty's mind to blow and she packs her bags and decides to drive to Los Angeles to find Dr. David Ravelle, her favorite character on the soap, with the hit men hot on her trail, who have to take out the only witness to their crime. This comedy makes all the right moves, thanks to a razor-sharp screenplay and wonderful performances from a perfect cast. Zellweger is absolutely enchanting as Betty, an endearing performance that earned her a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy. Freeman is charming as a surprisingly sensitive hit man and Rock, as always, steals every scene he is in as Freeman's explosive young partner. Greg Kinnear offers a charismatic turn as George McCord, the actor who plays Dr.David Ravelle and finds himself enamored with Betty. Allison Janney, Kathleen Whilhoite, and Crispin Glover offer effective support as well in this delightful comedy that is warm, witty, smart, and heartbreaking. Don't miss this sleeper.