Wonky ‘Good Nurse’ could use a little TLC
If not for the resuscitative efforts of Oscar-winners Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, Tobias Lindholm’s accounting of the capture of a homicidal New Jersey RN would be DOA.
The A-listers repeatedly breathe life into “The Good Nurse,” a flatlining B movie taking its cue from the Lifetime canon in chronicling how the title character, Amy Loughren (Chastain), was integral to bringing serial killer Charlie Cullen (Redmayne) to justice in 2003.
Initially, it’s just what the doctor ordered, as Lindholm (penner of the Oscar-winning “Another Round”) effectively injects social commentary into Amy’s struggle to remain alive (a heart condition, no insurance) and afloat as a financially strapped single mother of two prepubescent girls. But he and scripter Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”) quickly abandon that tack in favor of a standard procedural path, once Amy goes to the police with concerns about her new, overtly genial co-worker, Charlie.
The lingering question is, who’s more evil: Charlie, or an image-conscious healthcare system that — not unlike the Catholic Church — allowed Charlie to move from hospital to hospital despite suspicions he used insulin-spiked IVs to purposely kill as many as 400 patients? Consider it a tie. But also consider Chastain and Redmayne invaluable in rendering this leaky bedpan a guilty pleasure.
Movie review
The Good Nurse
Rated: R
Cast: Jessia Chastain and Eddie Redmayne
Director: Tobias Lindholm’
Writer: Krysty Wilson-Cairns
Runtime: 116 minutes
Where to see: Streaming on Netflix
Grade: B-
