filmbuff20
Joined Jun 2001
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Betty Sizemore (Renee Zellweger) lives her life through soap Opera "A Reason to Love" as a way to escape her slob husband and dull life. After a shocking incident involving two hit men (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock), Betty goes into shock and travels to LA, believing that she is destined to marry the show's main character (Greg Kinnear).
Nurse Betty is that rare thing, a lesser known film with an all-star cast and a fluffy Rom-Com plot that surprises with it's terrific script and spot on acting. Indeed, such a plot makes one question the R rating, but it's warranted all right. The shocking incident that sends Betty over the edge is a tad too graphic compared to the light, amusing comedy that is to come and feels like something out of a different movie, but at the same time it is necessary to believably show Betty's transformation into the doe eyed, lovable nut job she becomes.
As we go along with Betty on her journey, director Neil LaBute works some extraordinary magic which makes the movie unique and high above your bog standard comedy of error. An example of this would be Betty's first meeting with her crush. She pours her heart out to him and he plays along, thinking she's auditioning for a part on the show. Even as we are aware of the ludicrous nature of Betty's ramblings, the music swells as she speaks, giving us, the audience, Betty's emotional perspective. We almost believe what she is saying, yet we understand that her mind is fractured. Whereas other filmmakers would try to accent the ridiculousness of the situation to wring every ounce of possible comedy out of the scene, LaBute is sensitive to his main character and treats her with the utmost sympathy and understanding.
The banter between the hit men played by Freeman and Rock is priceless, the excellent script doling out clever line after clever line for them to riff off of. Freeman in particular is excellent as always, pacing himself as his character slowly and blindly falls in love with his own ideal of Betty, not even truly knowing who she is or what has happened to her. Aaron Eckhart once again shows versatility in the thankless role of Betty's no-good husband and he is almost unrecognisable. The other revelation here is Kinnear, whose portrayal of the soap's star is not too overcooked. There's a tendency to lay on the celebrity bastard cliché as thickly as possible, and Kinnear resists, instead imbuing him with a pompous yet restrained self importance, despite simply being a soap star.
The soap opera is realised so well, it could almost exist. LaBute and co hit the nail on the head with this one and a good thing too. If the soap opera had been too satirical, a large part of the film would not have worked. To do a "Days of Our Lives" spoof as seen in Friends would have been the wrong move for this movie. The dedication to detail pays off, as the style and feel of the soap opera begins to bleed into Betty's reality more and more, while keeping with the overall unintentionally comedic aspect of the genre. The scenes on the set feel real, as opposed to some films in which the atmosphere feels so manufactured, you wondered why people who do it for a living can't get it right.
The neat resolution of the final act, while being a tad predictable, is wholly satisfying overall. It's a shame that after LaBute directed this wonderful film, the mainstream came calling for him to direct the abysmal remake of The Wicker Man, a fine example of a man so totally above the material given to him. Unfortunately, one cannot absolve him of all responsibility.
If you haven't seen Nurse Betty, it's something to discover. If you have, it's worth a re-visit. There is a charm to Nurse Betty that is infectious, even if it may not leave you thinking that much afterwards. A hidden gem nonetheless.
Nurse Betty is that rare thing, a lesser known film with an all-star cast and a fluffy Rom-Com plot that surprises with it's terrific script and spot on acting. Indeed, such a plot makes one question the R rating, but it's warranted all right. The shocking incident that sends Betty over the edge is a tad too graphic compared to the light, amusing comedy that is to come and feels like something out of a different movie, but at the same time it is necessary to believably show Betty's transformation into the doe eyed, lovable nut job she becomes.
As we go along with Betty on her journey, director Neil LaBute works some extraordinary magic which makes the movie unique and high above your bog standard comedy of error. An example of this would be Betty's first meeting with her crush. She pours her heart out to him and he plays along, thinking she's auditioning for a part on the show. Even as we are aware of the ludicrous nature of Betty's ramblings, the music swells as she speaks, giving us, the audience, Betty's emotional perspective. We almost believe what she is saying, yet we understand that her mind is fractured. Whereas other filmmakers would try to accent the ridiculousness of the situation to wring every ounce of possible comedy out of the scene, LaBute is sensitive to his main character and treats her with the utmost sympathy and understanding.
The banter between the hit men played by Freeman and Rock is priceless, the excellent script doling out clever line after clever line for them to riff off of. Freeman in particular is excellent as always, pacing himself as his character slowly and blindly falls in love with his own ideal of Betty, not even truly knowing who she is or what has happened to her. Aaron Eckhart once again shows versatility in the thankless role of Betty's no-good husband and he is almost unrecognisable. The other revelation here is Kinnear, whose portrayal of the soap's star is not too overcooked. There's a tendency to lay on the celebrity bastard cliché as thickly as possible, and Kinnear resists, instead imbuing him with a pompous yet restrained self importance, despite simply being a soap star.
The soap opera is realised so well, it could almost exist. LaBute and co hit the nail on the head with this one and a good thing too. If the soap opera had been too satirical, a large part of the film would not have worked. To do a "Days of Our Lives" spoof as seen in Friends would have been the wrong move for this movie. The dedication to detail pays off, as the style and feel of the soap opera begins to bleed into Betty's reality more and more, while keeping with the overall unintentionally comedic aspect of the genre. The scenes on the set feel real, as opposed to some films in which the atmosphere feels so manufactured, you wondered why people who do it for a living can't get it right.
The neat resolution of the final act, while being a tad predictable, is wholly satisfying overall. It's a shame that after LaBute directed this wonderful film, the mainstream came calling for him to direct the abysmal remake of The Wicker Man, a fine example of a man so totally above the material given to him. Unfortunately, one cannot absolve him of all responsibility.
If you haven't seen Nurse Betty, it's something to discover. If you have, it's worth a re-visit. There is a charm to Nurse Betty that is infectious, even if it may not leave you thinking that much afterwards. A hidden gem nonetheless.
After the disappointing Die Another Day, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson needed a change, and in the midst of all the newly found gritty realism in the spy movie genre, it couldn't have come at a better time. Surviving the press and internet critiques of a film not yet even finished shooting, both producers, director and their put upon lead star were spurred on to bring out the very best product they possibly could. The result is Casino Royale, a stylish, glossy, sophisticated and at times brutal Bond movie.
When reviewing a Bond movie, three things have to be taken into account. 1) It was not made to win awards, 2) It is highly likely that if you saw the last one, this one will bear more than a passing resemblance to it, and 3) If you're a die hard Bond fan, you're probably going to love or like it no matter what. It's something to do with the swell of the music, the shaking and not stirring of a vodka martini and that bloke introducing himself again. After each film began coming out cloning it's predecessor and, more recently, a spill over into 'xXx' territory (with more cheesy one liners than you can fit in the boot of an Aston Martin) it was understandable that Bond fans would start to become restless.
So when it was announced that Bond was going back to the beginning, taking a leaf from Batman Begins, naturally the Bond fans rioted, because you just can't please some people. Next, they find out that the new Bond of the noughties was going to be a short fellow with a shock of blonde hair. How outrageous. The performance, however, speaks for itself.
Going back to the source material, Bond is now what he should be; a cold, calculating, womanising bastard with a taste for anything over 40% proof and a thirst for the kill. Craig's performance is damn near perfect, giving Bourne a run for his money in the hard-arse department. Suddenly, post Brosnan, Bond is now apart of the "who would win in a fight?" game once again.
Almost every risk taken with this film works wonderfully. We first meet Bond in black and white before securing his licence to kill, in fact, while securing his licence to kill. The unconventional gunbarrel sequence that follows integrates the familiar staple into the story. Next we follow Bond on his first mission, making sloppy mistakes, annoying his boss 'M' (the always amazing Judi Dench), gambling and hooking up with married women, all the while leaving a trail of dead bodies behind him. His mission takes him to Montenegro, where Le Chiffre, a banker with terrorist affiliations, is trying to win back the money he lost in a bad stocks call by setting up a poker game at the Casino Royale. Bond is slipped in to play Le Chiffre and win the money himself, with the buy in provided by the treasury represented by the beautiful Vesper Lynd played by the alluring Eva Green.
The film very closely follows the book in it's plot beats, changing necessary details to fill in time, action set pieces and to update to 2006. Now Bond is human, he has emotion, he feels remorse, he makes mistakes, and it helps to have a main character whom you not only secretly aspire to be, but whom you can actually invest in. There's very little wrong with this film, except perhaps a slightly uninspiring climactic set piece which is more or less for the sake of it and a few snippets of corny dialogue. The poker game that dominates the mid section is nail bitingly intense, whether you play the game or not, and the dialogue benefits from a polish by Crash scribe Paul Haggis.
The music is by far David Arnold's best James Bond score, with certain measures sounding like they were taken straight from John Barry. The main theme itself, You Know My Name, resonates throughout the entire film, standing in for the Bond theme which doesn't make an appearance in it's full glory until the end. The fact that it's not jarring to be without the Bond theme in a Bond film is a testament to Arnold's achievement.
The best thing about this movie is that it's follow ups should all be in the same vein, giving an air of "I want to see what he'll do next" rather than "oh, and this where he uses the gadget we saw at the beginning..." I hope all the naysayers are feeling, to put it in the words of Rowan Atkinson, like a right bunch of nitwits.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Casino Royale emerges from it's pre-release tabloid bashing as probably the best Bond film since Connery's hairpiece started going grey. Craig is certainly one of the closest to the Fleming vision and does cool and vulnerable at the same time, while the movie itself manages to become a Bond film that can actually have some surprises in store for it's audience.
When reviewing a Bond movie, three things have to be taken into account. 1) It was not made to win awards, 2) It is highly likely that if you saw the last one, this one will bear more than a passing resemblance to it, and 3) If you're a die hard Bond fan, you're probably going to love or like it no matter what. It's something to do with the swell of the music, the shaking and not stirring of a vodka martini and that bloke introducing himself again. After each film began coming out cloning it's predecessor and, more recently, a spill over into 'xXx' territory (with more cheesy one liners than you can fit in the boot of an Aston Martin) it was understandable that Bond fans would start to become restless.
So when it was announced that Bond was going back to the beginning, taking a leaf from Batman Begins, naturally the Bond fans rioted, because you just can't please some people. Next, they find out that the new Bond of the noughties was going to be a short fellow with a shock of blonde hair. How outrageous. The performance, however, speaks for itself.
Going back to the source material, Bond is now what he should be; a cold, calculating, womanising bastard with a taste for anything over 40% proof and a thirst for the kill. Craig's performance is damn near perfect, giving Bourne a run for his money in the hard-arse department. Suddenly, post Brosnan, Bond is now apart of the "who would win in a fight?" game once again.
Almost every risk taken with this film works wonderfully. We first meet Bond in black and white before securing his licence to kill, in fact, while securing his licence to kill. The unconventional gunbarrel sequence that follows integrates the familiar staple into the story. Next we follow Bond on his first mission, making sloppy mistakes, annoying his boss 'M' (the always amazing Judi Dench), gambling and hooking up with married women, all the while leaving a trail of dead bodies behind him. His mission takes him to Montenegro, where Le Chiffre, a banker with terrorist affiliations, is trying to win back the money he lost in a bad stocks call by setting up a poker game at the Casino Royale. Bond is slipped in to play Le Chiffre and win the money himself, with the buy in provided by the treasury represented by the beautiful Vesper Lynd played by the alluring Eva Green.
The film very closely follows the book in it's plot beats, changing necessary details to fill in time, action set pieces and to update to 2006. Now Bond is human, he has emotion, he feels remorse, he makes mistakes, and it helps to have a main character whom you not only secretly aspire to be, but whom you can actually invest in. There's very little wrong with this film, except perhaps a slightly uninspiring climactic set piece which is more or less for the sake of it and a few snippets of corny dialogue. The poker game that dominates the mid section is nail bitingly intense, whether you play the game or not, and the dialogue benefits from a polish by Crash scribe Paul Haggis.
The music is by far David Arnold's best James Bond score, with certain measures sounding like they were taken straight from John Barry. The main theme itself, You Know My Name, resonates throughout the entire film, standing in for the Bond theme which doesn't make an appearance in it's full glory until the end. The fact that it's not jarring to be without the Bond theme in a Bond film is a testament to Arnold's achievement.
The best thing about this movie is that it's follow ups should all be in the same vein, giving an air of "I want to see what he'll do next" rather than "oh, and this where he uses the gadget we saw at the beginning..." I hope all the naysayers are feeling, to put it in the words of Rowan Atkinson, like a right bunch of nitwits.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Casino Royale emerges from it's pre-release tabloid bashing as probably the best Bond film since Connery's hairpiece started going grey. Craig is certainly one of the closest to the Fleming vision and does cool and vulnerable at the same time, while the movie itself manages to become a Bond film that can actually have some surprises in store for it's audience.
