Nurse Betty
Nurse Betty is a 2000 American black comedy film directed by Neil LaBute and starring Renée Zellweger as the title character, a small town, Kansas housewife-waitress who suffers a nervous breakdown after witnessing her husband's torture murder, and starts obsessively pursuing her favorite television soap opera character (Greg Kinnear), while in a fugue state. Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock play the hitmen who killed her husband and subsequently pursue her to Los Angeles.
Plot
In the small Kansas town of Fair Oaks, diner waitress Betty Sizemore is a fan of the soap opera A Reason to Love. She has no idea that her husband Del, a car salesman, is having a sexual affair with another woman. She also doesn't know that her husband supplements his income by selling drugs. When Betty calls to ask about borrowing a Buick LeSabre for her birthday, Del tells her to take a different car. She manages to get the Buick's key and drives off, unaware that a large stash of drugs is hidden in the trunk. Two hitmen, Charlie and Wesley, come to Betty and Del's house. Charlie threatens to scalp Del if he doesn't reveal where the drugs are, and Del reveals that he has hidden the drugs in the trunk of a Buick; Wesley then scalps Del after misunderstanding Charlie's silent communication. The appalled Charlie shoots Del dead. Betty witnesses the murder and enters a fugue state, assuming the identity of a character in A Reason to Love who is a nurse.
Cast
- Aaron Eckhart
- Alfonso Freeman
- Allison Janney
- Chris Rock
- Christopher McDonald
- Crispin Glover
- Elizabeth Mitchell
- George D. Wallace
- Greg Kinnear
- Harriet Sansom Harris
- Jenny Wade
- Kathleen Wilhoite
- Kevin Rahm
- Morgan Freeman
- Pruitt Taylor Vince
- Renée Zellweger
- Sheila Kelley
- Stacy Haiduk
- Steven Culp
- Steven Franken
- Sung-Hi Lee
- Tia Texada
More details
| author | James Flamberg John C. Richards |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Los Angeles |
| director | Neil LaBute |
| editor | Joel Plotch Steven Weisberg |
| genre | comedy-drama crime |
| keywords | ankle holster buick lesabre car salesman crime scene engage even falling in love fantasy world fugue state hitman id kansa kill misunderstand nurse older sister police station real life rome scalp selling drugs shoot sleep soap opera suicide think young man |
| musicBy | Rolfe Kent |
| producer | Gail Mutrux Steve Golin |
| productionCompany | ab'-strakt pictures Gramercy Pictures Intermedia Pacifica Film Propaganda Films |
| publisher | British Film Institute Focus Features Summit Entertainment |
| recordedAt | Arizona Colorado Los Angeles |
| theme | black comedy independent lgbt-related satirical |