renee zellweger be a kansas housewife whose domineering husband be mixed up in drug trafficking . two professional hit men morgan freeman and his son and chris rock and murder the husband in his dining room . zellweger and unobserved by the killer and witness this and undergo a dissociative reaction and assume the personality of a nurse the eponymous betty who be a character in her favorite soap opera . believe herself to be the tv character and zellweger take off in her husband car and which have a load of dope in the trunk and and travel to la where she hop to link up with another character in this mindless afternoon drama and dr. david ravell and greg kinnear . not realize she be be pursue by the two hit men and she drive to la where she manage to link up with kinnear and be actually write into the show a a nurse name betty . a handful of men in the know and include the local sheriff and catch on to what happen and also seek zellweger in la . the end be believable and poignant . if that sound crazy and it because it be . and it the writer responsibility and john c. richards . the curious thing be that richards and the director and neil labute and with considerable help from the performer and just about pull it all off . this isn not a plot that have be cast in a familiar mold . nope . i give it bonus point for sheer originality . somebody go out on a limb . somebody take a chance on a movie that be not a copy or remake of something that have make money ten year or fifty year ago . i imagine the people involve and down on their knee every night and pray fervently . i do not know if the film be remunerative but it mostly successful on it own aesthetic term . it what might be call an initial premise movie . you start off with a single transformative event and in this case the murder of zellweger husband and her adoption of a genuinely new personality and and follow the resultant logical path realistically . groundhog day be another and good and more intricately plot and example . nurse betty have it logical crack and where the incident give up their plausibility . eg . and at a party in la and zellweger finally run into kinnear and the guy who play her ex fiancé on tv . she stun ( because and after all and she think she betty and who lose her fiancé long ago ) . she approach kinnear and a couple of his colleague and introduces herself a nurse betty and the character . she address kinnear by the name of his tv character and david ravell . the group be puzzle at first and then convince themselves that she an aspire actress who insist on stay in character during the conversation and afterward and too and after kinnear have become fascinate by her and the others bore . kinnear drive her home and even when she kiss him goodnight and she still in character and leave kinnear wide eye with astonishment at the relentless way she capture the character of betty . on the next date and kinnear return her love . that development and the relationship between zellweger and kinnear at this point and be a crack in the logic and the kind that absent from groundhog day . by the end of night one and kinnear and like any other person and would realize that zellweger be a few clown short of a circus . the rest of the film and which include many digression and succeed beyond expectation . the relationship between morgan freeman and his insolent and nihilistic son be marvelously spell out . morgan be flawless in his exasperation . he manage to fall in love with the image of zellweger a he unearth clue to her whereabouts and activity and and at the end he can not bring himself to shoot her . she too sweet to shoot . after her transformation into betty and she leave a note behind in kansa . i want to help all life and whether it be animal and plant and or mineral . who could harm the author of such a preposterous connative statement . his admiration of her come a an epiphany and a he stand near one of the floodlight at the rim of the grand canyon . zellweger and dress a dorothy and or maybe the good witch of the east well and character that and like zellweger and be from kansa anyway appear to freeman and he embrace her and kiss her tenderly . it a scene that at once eerie and romantic and and a little spooky . i once stand at one of those light and throw some shredded paper into the updraft from the dark canyon and find myself surround by a thousand swirl bat who have misperceive the flutter shred a moth . right . where be i. okay . i be try not to run out of space . zellweger performance deserve plaudit . everything she do and every movement and every utterance and be naive and tentative . she really be a likable character and that despite the fact that she no glamor girl by hollywood standard . but what an actress . compare her performance a the bumptious 19th century hick in cold mountain . just the opposite . but then everyone be up to snuff in this enjoyable film . allyson jannings do a fine job in a minor role . watch her when she tell greg kinnear that she consider kill off his character in the soap opera in a drowning accident . kinnear be one of those narcissist who wear the kind of ten thousand dollar thin black leather jacket that be popular at the time . he chuckle and say and oh and one of those castaway deal and right . okay and how do i get back . jannings doesn not answer . she just smile at him with those enormous blue eye and tilt her head mockingly . not a masterpiece of film making but a good and original and professional job by everyone concern .