There a special place in Hell for people who prey on the vulnerable … you know, drug dealers, MAGA politicians, and –apparently- at least one nurse. The Good Nurse is true story about mysterious deaths in hospitals. And do you know how mysterious a death has to be when you add the “in hospitals” part? People die in hospitals all the time. It’s like saying there was a mysterious death at the gladiator fights yesterday. This is kind of a “you know you’re a psychopath when … “ moment.
Speaking of psychopaths, Charles Cullen (Eddie Redmayne) worked in nine different hospitals in six years. Tell me that’s not a red flag. Go ahead. Explain that in any terms I can understand where I won’t say, “Huh. That seems a little suspicious.” And if you’re hiring this guy, why does it not seem suspicious to you? He’s not an army brat, he’s a nurse. Hospitals aren’t mobile outside of war zones.
(Believe it or not, New Jersey is not a war zone)
Nurse Cullen befriends Amy Loghren (Jessica Chastain) at Parkfield Memorial where she and nurse Cullen both work in the ICU. Amy has cardiomyopathy and three children. One of those is going to kill her, but right now the heart condition is more serious. How screwed is the American health system? Amy is a nurse in need of a heart transplant; she works in the ICU ward at a hospital. She has no health insurance. If her heart fails before she qualifies for health insurance (one year at her present work), those kids are orphans.
This is Amy’s story much more than it is Charles Cullen’s. The film opted for the sickly ‘n’ sympathetic face for the film so that we could see “Charlie” through her eyes. She sees a friend and a potential anchor for when her cardiomyopathy decides it is the head-of-household.
And then … deaths start happening at the hospital.
The first is a 77-year-old woman. You’re gonna say, “yeah, so. Seventy-seven is past average life span and she was sick in the hospital. What’s the biggie?” That’s what I said. Except the police were summoned. And they were summoned seven weeks after the death. The body had bee
n long since cremated. The hospital investigated the death internally and waited seven weeks to call police. Well, geez, why call them at all at that rate? I don’t understand. Seriously. I don’t understand. Do you want the police to get involved or not? If so then why wait seven weeks and withhold evidence?
That part could have been a lot clearer.
There also could have been more suspects. Fact is we only really meet four people in this film: fatal heart condition single mom Amy literally dying to be able to mother her children, police detectives Baldwin and Braun (Nnamdi Asomugha and Noah Emmerich), and Nurse Cullen. Gee, I wonder who’s drugging the IV bags at nine different hospitals in six years.
There’s decent drama in this film – Redmayne and Chastain are professionals, of course – but there just isn’t a lot of meat to this story. Towards the end of Act II, the film hints that as the noose tightens, the killer’s actions are becoming more desperate, but there really isn’t much there. I counted one scene of decent tension and that’s about it. The Good Nurse chose the investigation from the police perspective and the nurse relationship from the mom’s perspective, so we never get a good feel as to how creepy and desperate The Good Nurse is. That’s just not enough for me.
I suppose the timing on this film could be worse, but I have to quibble with the release in the political atmosphere we live in. This country has embraced the moronic idea that health care should be 1) for-profit and 2) tied to employment. On top of that, in the wake of COVID, we have seen exactly how many and to what extent Americans distrust health care professionals. BTW, have you ever given a thought to exactly how much damage has been done to the country entirely and solely because Donald Trump has a fragile ego? Hit with the truth about COVID (he was the President; he damn well knew would could happen), Donald couldn’t face telling the truth because *gasp* people might not like it and might say mean things about him. The result: Over one million Americans have died from COVID. Orange Stalin became COVID’s #1 spreader of disinformation and subsequently encouraged his army of sycophantic facile morons to fight science and common sense, aggressively. The United States contains 4% of the world population and had 15% of the world’s COVID deaths. That’s not an accident.
And now, producers of The Good Nurse, you thought it would be a splendid idea to give Americans a legitimate reason to distrust health care. Fantastic. Why even have vaccinations … or hospitals … or doctors? Say, why have science at all? 38 is a wonderful average life span. You can accomplish an awful lot in 38 years. I just hope it’s old enough to acquire the wisdom not to make this film during a pandemic.
There once was nurse with heart trouble
Who invited a stranger into her bubble
Uh oh. Tragedy
Was it him? Could it be
The guy who left a trail of death, pain, and rubble?
Rated R, 121 Minutes
Director: Tobias Lindholm
Writer: Charles Graeber, Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Genre: Making sick people scared
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: “I knew that guy was a creep!”
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Nurses
