Plot: What’s it about?
Director Neil LaBute has had his share of controversy. His movie from a few years back, In the Company of Men, more than raised a few eyebrows. The lowdown on that movie was that two businessmen take out their frustrations on women on a random woman. They romance her with plans only to dump her. Let’s not forget the fact that she’s deaf as well. Anyhow, LaBute gave us a villian worse than any serial killer you could imagine and one of the actors from that movie has a role in Nurse Betty. Aaron Eckhart, making quite a name for himself (he starred in Erin Brockovich last year) plays Del Sizemore, an abusive, wife-cheating husband to Betty (Rene Zellweger) who works at a local diner, The Tip Top. In addition to having one of the worst haircuts in recent memory, Del has gotten himself into a bit of trouble with the wrong people. Del runs a used car lot in a small Kansas town and has some “merchandise” that doesn’t belong to him in the trunks of one of his cars. Upon asking him for a loaner for her Friday night “ladies night out”, she takes the car only to come home and witness her husband murdered by two killers on his trail.
Nurse Betty is a great movie, well written, acted and directed; but don’t let the playful cover throw you off. In some parts, I found it sad. Yes, sad. Betty is completley engrossed in a soap opera, “A Reason to Live” somewhat of a metaphor for part of the movie as well. Her job at the local diner is fair, she is good at it, but has a problem with the whole “suspention of disbelief” thing when it comes to TV…she thinks the soap opera is real. Upon seeing her husband scalped, (and yes, they show it) Betty uses the opportunity to make her voyage to Los Angeles, home of the one and only David Ravell (Greg Kinnear). Now this would normally not be that big of an issue, but she takes the one car from the lot that has what the killers are looking for (and what her husband got killed for). Drugs. It’s clear that Betty, as sweet as she is, has problems dealing with reality. Now, with her husband gone, she is free to cut loose and live out her fantasies. This brings us to the killers, Charlie (Morgan Freeman) and Wesley (Chris Rock). Aside from being the antagonists in the movie, they are the comic relief as well. Charlie is on his last “job”, he’s a been there done that type of guy who spends most of the time trying to get his younger sidekick in order. Wesley is a smart-mouthed, cold-blooded killer. He actually likes his work.
After getting to Los Angeles, Betty applies to be a nurse at a local hospital (one she thinks employs Dr. David Ravell, the screen idenity of Kinnear’s George McCord). She then meets up with George/David and they start to see each other. He thinks she is just another actress, but one who stays in character. Of course, George doesn’t know that Betty is delusional and is living in her own little fantasy world. As fate would have it, George decides to try and put her on the show as a character. Betty is so good at her “role” off camera, that he thinks she will be something of a prodigy on camera. As it happens, her worlds collide and she’s lost and doesn’t know what to do…Nurse Betty is a very real version of what is going on. We’re so obsessed with moviestars and all the glory of Hollywood that it’s easy to get caught up in what is (isn’t) going on. While parts of Nurse Betty are entertaining, parts of it are sad and feature graphic violence. The casting is great, and we’re even treated to Crispin Glover’s appearance. He plays the small town reporter by the name of Roy. I’m a big fan of Crispin Glover and to see him in a role unlike his Charlie’s Angels role was good to say the least. While Nurse Betty has it’s audience, it’s a crap shoot to tell what it is. It’s a supremely directed movie with a hard edge to it. Not everyone will like it, but I’m one who does.
Video: How does it look?
For a movie that is brand new to home video…excuse me, uh DVD, Nurse Betty doesn’t quite live up to the standards that some of the other movie do. I first thought that I needed to recalibrate my TV, but I put in a few other discs like Saving Private Ryan, The Shawshank Redemption and some other live action flicks that I knew had excellent quality. Well…they all looked fine, great even. Not so with Nurse Betty. While some scenes have pixelation in them, particularly those with a brown hue to them (inside a bar, room, etc…) the outdoor scenes tend to look the same. The characters faces seemed to be a bit washed out, and though the detail level is sharp and focused, this was kind of unexcuseable on USA’s part. The 2.35:1 image is enhanced for TV’s (so there goes that argument), but I was really hoping for more. Maybe if they would have droppped the second commentary, it would have affected the picture a little bit. Who knows?
Audio: How does it sound?
Here’s another area in which I was disappointed. I had the same problem with “Your Friends and Neighbors” (Also directed by LaBute). For some reason it seems that the audio is purposefully turned down. While the 5.1 sound is excellent at times, the dialogue seems to be mono…or less. At times, the rear surrounds are used, and with great effect; but on the whole I can’t see how this could be considered a good use of sound. How can something that sounds so good at times also sound so bad? If this were a movie that were twenty or thirty years old that had “remastered” sound, I could understand. But again, this movie is brand new and by all rights should sound excellent. Like I said before…who knows?
Supplements: What are the extras?
Though the video and audio portions of this disc leave a bit to be desired, the extras make up for it. First up is the trailer presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. There are some deleted scenes, most of them short, but I can see why they were left out of the movie. Deleted scenes, in my opinion should be edited back in the movie for the DVD, or at least give us the option to watch the movie with them (seamless branching), but that’s just my opinion. The ficticous show “A Reason to Love” is shown throughout the movie, and is the object of Betty’s affection. Nine of these have been compiled in a little feature that is sure to please. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at how dumb, yet real, these were. There’s also a hidden tenth one, but if you look for a few minutes you’ll find where it is. Lastly two commentary tracks are included, the first with the cast (Freeman, Rock, Kinnear, Zellwegger and Neil LaBute) which is very lively. It’s hosted by LaBute, but you can tell the cast had a good time doing this movie, even if the subject matter was downright sad. The other commentary track is with the Production and Costume designers. I have to admit, this bored me to pieces, it’s dull and dry, and should have been ditched to up the image quality a bit. But that’s just me…Overall, Nurse Betty is sure to please. It’s a very well made film, but such a shame that it can’t look and sound a bit better. Or maybe we’ve set the bar too high with DVD nowadays?
