The Good Nurse

The Good Nurse

Suspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth in this gripping thriller based on true events.

  • Released: 2022-10-19
  • Runtime: 121 minutes
  • Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
  • Stars: Jessica Chastain, Eddie Redmayne, Noah Emmerich, Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens, Devyn McDowell, Ajay Naidu, Maria Dizzia, Malik Yoba, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Gina Jun, Brooke Stacy Mills, Anjelica Bosboom, Rebecca Watson, Maurice J. Irvin, Victor Cruz, Jennifer Regan, Andrew James Bleidner, Shaun O'Hagan
  • Director: Tobias Lindholm
 Comments
  • garyvines-01290 - 14 March 2024
    A little bit better than I expected, I didn't realize it was based on a true story
    This movie features Jessica Chastain as a nurse named Amy Loughren who's newly employed at a hospital such that she doesn't yet receive medical benefits. She needs to work for a few more months before she can get them and due to an ongoing medical issue, this becomes a very important part of her job and her life as that she has 2 young daughters at home and is struggling financially since her medical conditions is costing her out of her pocket. While at work a new nurse shows up Charlie Cullen played by Eddie Redmayne. He's kind of a goofy and awkward guy but nice enough and soon he and Amy and her daughters become fast friends. They become such good friends that he is allowed to watch her daughters and eventually her babysitter (which was costing her) is needed less and less. Charlie discovers her need for medical benefits and agrees to help her in the impending months before he benefits arrive. In the meantime, something starts happening to patients that appear to be on the mend who start dying unexpectedly. Amy discovers that Charlie is responsible for the deaths and, at great cost to her job, benefits and potentially her life, agrees to help the police stop him.

    I didn't know this was based on actual events until the end of the movie when updates on the actual people flashed at the end.

    While this movie isn't really a thriller, horror or even a phycological thriller, it does fall into a drama with horror overtones as there is substantial body count, although not done in a violent way. The actors were VERY good with well written story, but it didn't really have a lot of punch until the end when the drama comes to a head. I think I appreciated the sort of muted way the characters were portrayed until the end when their acting abilities were called on the carpet. This movie isn't bad, I just kind of didn't know what to expect as I hadn't heard this story before. It's worth a watch, just know there aren't any jump scares (that I recall anyway) and it's a bit of a slow burn.
  • lavatch - 1 September 2023
    Flatliners
    Early in the film, we meet two nurses. One is Amy Loughren, who is struggling to support two young daughters while battling a major health problem with her heart. The second is Charlie Cullen, who has recently switched jobs, which has become a habit based on the number of hospitals in which he has been employed.

    It is not difficult at all to figure out who is the "good nurse" of the film's title.

    Some of the best scenes are those with the two investigators, Danny Baldwin and Tim Braun. Both suspect that something is amiss when a woman dies under suspicious circumstances at the hospital where Charlie and Amy work.

    Astonishingly, the hospital killer may have senselessly taken the lives of hundreds of patients. The hospital staff, administrators, and feckless attorneys stonewall the investigation of the two detectives. It takes one courageous "good" nurse to take a stand on ending the serial killings. There was an exceptional performance of Jessica Chastain as the good nurse.
  • dr_hgj-48231 - 15 March 2023
    A true crime drama hyped by critics
    As the heroine work is at Oscars the overall media coverage hyped this film. Its OK but in police files couple of murders are covering 29! Serial killings. Police investigations are not this low competent in any country, this is US ! Here the liberty and human rights thing hampers the crime busting process. Super efforts using all techno still Police strength struggle to put points straight. Hospital atmosphere is good. Including administrative wings affected by corporates and mgmt guys rather than Medical Experts. This is 2003 its now twenty years more and we are loosing the Medical perspective and crime like adultering transperant IV fluids in basic Insulin and ditalis mid use erupted out. US has the highest standards of Medical Safety so its an isolated incident twisted media trial film made out at low key.
  • danielcereto - 1 January 2023
    Intriguing
    The movie is based on a real story what it makes themovie more intriguing and interesting since the beginning till the end.

    First, acting here is solid. Not Oscar's winning but enough interesting to keep on your seat asking for the reasons why a person can do so many wrong things.

    Second, I think the script is quite good even not perfect. I think it could have been more precise on the facts. Looks like they wanted to do it in a soft way.

    Last, I think the male main character is the best here. His interpretation stole the show. My favorite part is at the police station. What an amazing performance there.

    So, overall an intriguing thriller, based on a predictable story, but enjoyable, and well done.
  • SoumikBanerjee25 - 23 December 2022
    Disappointed!
    If it weren't for Redmayne and Chastain's stupefying portrayals, I wouldn't have been so lenient with my rating. You know they say that talented actors possess this unique ability to elevate even a substandard, middling script to reasonable levels; well, guess what? These types of instances only serve to solidify the validity of such statements.

    Aside from their performances and the well-executed technical aspects, there isn't much else to say. The screenplay is painfully tedious. The drama, despite their best efforts, did not attain the desired effect nor did it reach the level of conflict and resolution I personally desired.

    Some of you may argue that just because this is a true story and is based on real life events, the makers might only have been able to make a limited number of adjustments. In reality, this isn't the first time someone has attempted to portray a true incident. There have been countless instances of this before, and I can tell you I've seen better implementations.
  • nehpetstephen - 13 December 2022
    Slickly made but insubstantial
    Director Tobias Lindholm has a penchant for making movies with a polished superficial sheen suggestive of far more depth than the hollowness they actually contain. He's like a college essayist whose impeccable grammar and engaging diction mask the fact that he's only skimmed his research sources and has failed to develop an original argument of any real depth or weight. I imagine this makes him an excellent conversationalist, too, as I'm not otherwise sure how he managed to secure an Oscar win and a Best Director nomination for ANOTHER ROUND, which, in keeping with THE HUNT, was another slick but insubstantial film.

    THE GOOD NURSE is a fine film. Redmayne and Chastain are consummate professionals, and they are engaging to watch. Everything from the screenplay to the set design and cinematography is perfectly tolerable, yet the film never justifies its existence beyond being a vehicle for more filmmaking accolades. I read the first few paragraphs of convicted killer Charlie Cullen's wikipedia page prior to watching the movie, and nothing presented in the movie went beyond the conventional vision that played out in my head while skimming. There's nothing surprising, thought-provoking, or truly memorable about this film. It tries to muster a message of condemnation against America's budget-strained, for-profit healthcare system, a message which is cheaply and stupidly manifested in the coldly villainous persona of a bureaucratic obfuscator played by Kim Dickens, but this message fails to amount to anything more than a glib shrug. It's perfectly possible to film a thrilling, razor-sharp indictment of failed accountability systems--see David Fincher's ZODIAC or the Netflix series UNBELIEVABLE--but this film doesn't bother to put in the effort. Its police procedural elements are hammy and stereotypical (never before have I been so confused by the line, "We need a body or we don't have a case!"), and if IMDb's Goofs page for THE GOOD NURSE is to be trusted, then they didn't put much effort into making the hospital scenes accurate either. This isn't a movie about reality; it's a character study about a killer who's ultimately a cipher and a (spoiler alert) "good nurse" who is doing the best she can to raise two spunky little girls on her own.

    If this were a Lifetime movie, I would be inclined to say it was above average. But as a movie that probably generated six- or seven-figure paychecks for its director and two stars while purportedly bemoaning the struggles of the working class, it needs to do more than this.
  • elyrexo - 27 November 2022
    Well Acted
    A medical story based on a true story, and very well acted by the entire cast. In particular, Redmayne captures the cold oddness of the main character. The weakness of true story dramatizations is that we often know the outcome from the start. But in this case, that doesn't detract from the entertainment value. We are drawn into the story of how wrongdoing is suspected then proven despite obstacles being placed in the investigation by vested interests. As events unfold, we are never sure what will happen next, especially as the net begins to close. I found this a highly entertaining movie from Netflix.
  • jouleZ - 22 November 2022
    Two Great Performance
    Another great movie this year! Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain were both phenomenal! They look good together too. As partners or maybe even brother and sister! Yeah, that's how I thought in one scene at the beginning, when Eddie was sitting and the side of his face looks like Jessica.

    The story was indeed great! The roles suit them both as I have seen Eddie performed before as a sociopath and that he really nailed it! His face is so kind that you can not really tell that he can do something bad but when he shows his anger, he will creep the hell out of you!

    While on the other hand, Jessica also did great on this film! She's always this type of girl who is always nice and sweet and charming. I have seen a lot of her movies! Sometimes, I watch it again and again! That's how much I really like Jessica Chastain! She always plays the role very well!