Critic Reviews
Nurse Betty (2000) Rank 4 Reviews
Expert Review Summary
based on (236) reviews
Click on the numbers to the right of the graph to see reviews of that rating
Reviews by Score:
Michael Dequina
This just sets the stage for even wilder twists, which point up the irony of the film: as Betty actively pursues life in a soap, the real life she ignores becomes just as, if not more, outrageous than one. But even for a film as plotheavy as ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Michael Dequina
Movie Hell (Michael J. Legeros)
One Guy's Opinion (Frank Swietek)
Bob Bloom
Such a film is "Nurse Betty," a whimsical fairy tale as fragile and spunky as its heroine. It is a movie with Oscar contender stamped all over it.Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger) is a sweet, young woman, a waitress in the Tip Top, a small restaurant in ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Bob Bloom
Movielocity Movie Reviews (Blake Kunisch)
There's a certain quality about Nurse Betty that's hard to explain. It's dark, funny, quirky, and enjoyable all at the same time. The combination of Morgan Freeman with Chris Rock is about as unconventional as the premise of a waitress (Renee Zellweger) ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Movielocity Movie Reviews (Blake Kunisch)
Film Quips Online (John R. McEwen)
Although Nurse Betty is a clever story on the surface, and would suffice as a movie based solely on that, its real charm lies in the depth of character revealed slowly for each of the people in the story, like the layers one discovers when peeling an ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Film Quips Online (John R. McEwen)
Detroit News (Susan Stark)
Cinema Signals by The Filmiliar Cineaste
The King's Room (Paul Perkins)
Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
How does a film maker depict goodness and decency without falling into a Hallmark Hall of Fame sappy 10 factor? This would seem to be very tricky indeed! But Utah born director Neil LaBute ( In the Company of Men, Friends and Neighbors ) has managed to ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Lobo Howls (Judith Wolfe)
GamePro.com ("Star Dingo")
Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
The superb screenplay won an award at Cannes this year for good reason. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Entertainment Weekly (Lisa Schwarzbaum)
San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
A wonderfully twisted comedy. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at San Francisco Chronicle (Edward Guthmann)
Rolling Stone (Peter Travers)
Palo Alto Weekly (Jeanne Aufmuth)
Cinema Signals (Jules Brenner)
EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
In his third, most accomplished film, LaBute puts aside the inquiry of misogyny that dominated his previous work and immerses himself in a lighter romantic fable about the collision of fantasy and reality, with a terrific performance from Renee Zelwegger ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at EmanuelLevy.com (Emanuel Levy)
Buzz (Tanya Marsh)
Christian Pyle
Charlie's love for Betty parallels Betty's love for Dr. Ravell in that both fall in love with fantasy figures rather than real people. That irony produces most of the laughs in this movie that unashamedly mixes light comedy and film noir tension, as if ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Christian Pyle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Sean Axmaker)
He (LaBute) pulls the farce and the violence and the fantasies together with a deft touch and a sweetness rare in American films -- especially his. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Sean Axmaker)
The New York Times (Stephen Holden)
It is easily the finest American comedy since David O. Russell's "Flirting With Disaster," another road movie that never ran out of poignantly funny surprises. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at The New York Times (Stephen Holden)
Variety (Emanuel Levy)
Few actresses can convey the kind of honesty and humanity that Zellweger does here -- it's hard to imagine the film without her dominant, thoroughly credible performance. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Variety (Emanuel Levy)
Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
This offbeat and unpredictable comedy-thriller throws so many curveballs, one right after another, that I doubt I've had more fun at an American movie this year. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Chicago Reader (Jonathan Rosenbaum)
Time (Richard Schickel)
All in all, Nurse Betty is a wonderful movie, unpredictably alive to the fact that the American citizenry is a lot stranger than we like to admit. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Time (Richard Schickel)
Film.com (Ernest Hardy)
There's a shrewd satiric method to LaBute's madness, and a payoff in comedic gold. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Film.com (Ernest Hardy)
culturevulture.net (Gary Mairs)
Nurse Betty is something quite original: a comic meditation on our involvement with popular culture, one that honors the power of even the most banal and trivial art. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at culturevulture.net (Gary Mairs)
Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Betty moves into Coen Brothers territory, a land so unreal that horrific behavior wrings laughter from a disbelieving audience. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Charlotte Observer (Lawrence Toppman)
Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
The movie has a deliberately screw-loose feel. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Chicago Tribune (Michael Wilmington)
Boston Globe (Jay Carr)
It's lively, edgy, full of zigs and zags, juicy performances, and offbeat fun. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Boston Globe (Jay Carr)
Chad Polenz (Chad Polenz)
Steve Rhodes
Did I mention that she has never really met David, except, that is, on television?You see, David isn't real either. He is just the lead character in the popular soap opera, "A Reason to Love." Delightful playing bad soap star George McCord, Kinnear is ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Steve Rhodes
Susan Granger
Irresistible Renee Zellweger stars in this darkly comedic romantic fable as Betty Sizemore, a soapopera obsessed Kansas housewife caught between fantasy and reality. She's a plucky, smalltown waitress whose philandering, abusive husband is brutally ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Susan Granger
Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
A bitter-sweet fantasy, in the form of a black comedy. It is about daydreaming and wish fulfillment, as directed by Neil LaBute ( In the Company of Men / Your Friends and Neighbors ). This is the first film he's done that's not written by him, as it was ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Ozus' World Movie Reviews (Dennis Schwartz)
Edward Johnson-Ott
With his first two films, "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends & Neighbors," writer/director Neil LaBute explored corporate and sexual politics with a searing eye that thrilled many viewers, while sending others racing for the exits. This time ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Edward Johnson-Ott
Ultimate Movies! Review
Schizophrenia may be a serious medical condition but according to Hollywood, it is one big barrel of laughs. Jim Carrey's Me, Myself and Irene earlier this year and now Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty have both played off the notion that crazy people are funny. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Ultimate Movies! Review
filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
Neil LaBute, best known for his ultra-dark comedies In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors, breaks from his traditional mold and lightens up a tad with Nurse Betty, which -- again -- isn't going to win any awards for sensitivity.
For the ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at filmcritic.com (Christopher Null)
ShowBIZ Data
A USA Films Release of a Gramercy Pictures Presentation in Association with Pacifica Film Distribution of a Propaganda Films/ab'-strakt pictures/MF Production; Executive Produced by Philip Steuer, Stephen Pevner, Moritz Borman and Chris Sievernich; ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at ShowBIZ Data
MovieFreak.com (Dan Scully)
The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
The film warms up very slowly, however, almost infuriatingly so. And there are undeniably some slow points throughout it. But its originality and sheer wacked-out likability compensate for its weaknesses in pacing. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at The Land of Eric (Eric D. Snider)
Film Monthly (Wayne Case)
f there were an Oscar category for casting, Heidi Levitt and Monika Mikkelsen should receive no less than a nominated for this work. I can't imagine anyone else playing most of these parts, ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Film Monthly (Wayne Case)
Big Picture Big Sound (Joe Lozito)
Neil LaBute - who brought us the ultra-dark amorality tales "In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends and Neighbors" - executes one of the most successful directing about-faces in recent memory with "Nurse Betty", a modern day fairytale of loss and ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Big Picture Big Sound (Joe Lozito)
John Beachem
One of the greatest strengths to "Nurse Betty" is the excellent cast. Renee Zellweger ("Me, Myself, and Irene"), who I really wasn't too sure about, proves herself here. As the slightly ditzy, very confused Betty, she is simply too endearing for words. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at John Beachem
Dustin Putman
As Betty Sizemore, the lovely Renee Zellweger has found a wonderfully layered role that she was undoubtedly born to play. A coffeehouse waitress in Kansas who is stuck in a deadend marriage with her nogood, philandering husband Del (Aaron Eckhart), ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Dustin Putman
That Cow (Andrew Bradford)
I have not laughed out loud this much in some time. Your mileage may vary, but this is the exact humor that appeals to me. Zellweger is perfect. Everyone else if pretty darn good too, especially Morgan Freeman. I should fill in some more details later, ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at That Cow (Andrew Bradford)
The Movie Mom (Nell Minow)
Renee Zellwegger's lips should be eligible for their own Oscar. As the waitress who is such a big fan of a soap opera that she becomes convinced she is a character on it, she does more to convey her essential sweetness and strength of character with her ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at The Movie Mom (Nell Minow)
Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
Somewhere between tension and release lies the heart of laughter, and director Neil (“In the Company of Men”) LaBute knows just where that spot is. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Movie Habit (Marty Mapes)
BBC Films
Splicing together an American road trip and an American story about succeeding is to risk wringing any remaining life out of both genres. Weak films which take to the road are generally reduced to on-the-road encounters of forced eccentricity, while most ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at BBC Films
FilmHead.com (Matt Heffernan)
Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Brian Oliver)
Nurse Betty is a story about a small town waitress (Zellweger) who gets reality and fantasy mixed after her husband is brutally murdered by two hit men (Freeman and Rock). Believing she is in the world of her favorite soap opera, she tracks down her ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Movieman's Guide to the Movies (Brian Oliver)
Movie Reviews UK
Has life been getting you down lately? Feel like you're not getting your piece of the pie? Are the harsh realities of day-to-day existence taking a super-sized chunk out of your soul? Well, that's exactly how small-town waitress Betty Sizemore (Renee ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Movie Reviews UK
Reel Movie Critic (George O. Singleton)
Betty's birthday is celebrated by her friends at work, and her next door neighbor. Del is totally oblivious to this, as he shows by having sex with the receptionist at his used car lot during the day, and doing a not very legal business deal at night. ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Reel Movie Critic (George O. Singleton)
Scott's Movie Reviews (Scott Mantz)
It's just a
TV show. At least, that's what hoards of fanatical soap opera fans
are told every time they recite some useless piece of trivia about
their favorite small screen characters. For some people, the ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Scott's Movie Reviews (Scott Mantz)
Shannon Patrick Sullivan
Now, though, it's autumn (in the cinema world, if not the calendar), a time when the industry traditionally moves away from bigbudget, massappeal movies to quieter, often more ambitious fare. Leading the way this year is "Nurse Betty", which in some ...read the complete Nurse Betty movie review at Shannon Patrick Sullivan
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