Comedy about a widow's post-traumatic obsession with a soap star.Comedy about a widow's post-traumatic obsession with a soap star.Comedy about a widow's post-traumatic obsession with a soap star.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 14 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaProduction designer Charles William Breen used "The Wizard of Oz (1939)" as inspiration for the look of this movie. If you look closely, you'll find hidden references that pay homage to the 1939 movie.
- GoofsAs Charlie and Wesley are walking away from their broken down car, they argue about the picture of Betty that Charlie keeps looking at. Wesley grabs the picture from Charlie's hand and rips it into 3 pieces. Charlie runs back and picks it up and puts the pieces back together. Only now it is only torn in 2 pieces.
- Crazy creditsWhen the end credits are done, the film's title appears
- Alternate versionsThe version aired on TV in the USA removes the swearing.
- ConnectionsEdited into Nurse Betty: Deleted Scenes (2001)
- SoundtracksWhatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Séra, Séra)
Written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans
Performed by Pink Martini
Courtesy of Heinz Records
Featured review
The Bad: The gimmick of this film, as with very many, is contrast. This time its the well-exercised contrast between mindless brutality and open, honest innocence. What's new is the ratcheting up of the extremes. The violence is a new extreme in this context. How much more can we escalate? Is our own innocence so permanently numb?
The Good: This film is remarkably sophisticated in its self-referential layering. Here is an indicator that in this category at least the general intelligence level in the US is rising. It takes real abstract thinking to appreciate this, and one imagines that an audience in the 80s would be thoroughly puzzled.
Simple films with theatric self-reference usually mix real life with a play-within-the-play. "Shakespeare in Love" and "illuminata" are of this ilk. Slightly more complex is real life within the play as with "The Truman Show." But here we have a new and lovely evolution, six layers of self-reference.
We have the layer of the real-life Renee and her film character. I am in no doubt that the marketing of Renee as the new America's Sweetheart is the real basis of this effort. So Renee playing the public Renee. Then we have Renee playing Betty. We are lead to believe that the three are simultaneously real. But this has been common for 75 years.
What's new is Betty "becoming" Nurse Betty. Another layer, and then full circle as the "real" nurse Betty becomes the play Nurse Betty. This last is assumed before it actually happens. Finally, we have Freeman's fantasy angel Betty, which we assume is the root of all the conflated layers. That makes six layers by my count. Think about it: this film requires a sophisticated viewer. As it will likely be a big hit, that sophistication must exist in the masses. Wonderful!
Incidentally, only two people in this film can act, and one is not Chris Rock. What's with this guy?
The Good: This film is remarkably sophisticated in its self-referential layering. Here is an indicator that in this category at least the general intelligence level in the US is rising. It takes real abstract thinking to appreciate this, and one imagines that an audience in the 80s would be thoroughly puzzled.
Simple films with theatric self-reference usually mix real life with a play-within-the-play. "Shakespeare in Love" and "illuminata" are of this ilk. Slightly more complex is real life within the play as with "The Truman Show." But here we have a new and lovely evolution, six layers of self-reference.
We have the layer of the real-life Renee and her film character. I am in no doubt that the marketing of Renee as the new America's Sweetheart is the real basis of this effort. So Renee playing the public Renee. Then we have Renee playing Betty. We are lead to believe that the three are simultaneously real. But this has been common for 75 years.
What's new is Betty "becoming" Nurse Betty. Another layer, and then full circle as the "real" nurse Betty becomes the play Nurse Betty. This last is assumed before it actually happens. Finally, we have Freeman's fantasy angel Betty, which we assume is the root of all the conflated layers. That makes six layers by my count. Think about it: this film requires a sophisticated viewer. As it will likely be a big hit, that sophistication must exist in the masses. Wonderful!
Incidentally, only two people in this film can act, and one is not Chris Rock. What's with this guy?
- How long is Nurse Betty?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Сестричка Бетті
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $35,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,170,054
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,145,950
- Sep 10, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $29,364,989
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
- 2.35 : 1
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