The Good Nurse

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"The Good Nurse uses the phenomenal cast at its disposal to elevate a shocking true story that will remain in my memory for a while.

Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne shine through a screenplay that follows a mentally unstable serial killer who demonstrated the glaring lack of morals and institutional inhumanity of hospitals and administrators more concerned with protecting themselves than saving the lives of hundreds of patients.

The pinnacle of human incompetence and ignorance with a light of genuine kindness at the end of the tunnel."

Rating: B

Jessica Chastain is Amy, a nurse working the hectic nightshifts at her local hospital whilst trying to bring up her two children and combat a pernicious heart defect that requires surgery - a surgery she can ill afford. The pressure looks set ease a little when she is introduced to a new arrival. He, Charlie, (Eddie Redmayne) is a sympathetic and engaging man with whom she gradually begins to build a (platonic) friendship. Suddenly, a patient at their hospital dies and after some feet-dragging, the police become involved in an investigation that rings loads of alarm bells. It soon becomes clear that this death is but the latest in a series of mysteriously unexplained incidents and that, perhaps, Charlie might be more involved that his friendly demeanour might suggest. It's based on a true story, so there's no jeopardy as to who did what, when and where. The film is basically a two-hander with the pair delivering competent characterisations of the two nurses. Redmayne has less to do until the ending, and there he rather hams it up a bit. Chastain has more of the game and plays her role a little more characterfully but again, the writing isn't really very good and the pace of thing is all but glacial. It has a documentary feel to it at times with a score that does little to enhance the overall lacklustre production. Interesting story, but the film is nothing at all to write home about.