The Good Nurse Movie Review

“The Good Nurse” a dramatic take on true events that could give you chills if you are ever admitted into a hospital. The bureaucratic administrations had allowed, or ignored, many suspicious deaths over a number of years. All of these seemed to be tied to one particular male nurse. Definitely not the “Good” one!

Amy Loughren (played by Jessica Chastain) is a nurse working a night shift at a New Jersey hospital. She is stressed due to the long hours and lack of help at the location. Amy balances her job duties with the toils of single-motherhood. She is hiding one other dangerous secret. She has a bad heart condition that if not treated will cause her death.

Amy has two daughters who miss their mom, because she is always working. But her job comes with health insurance – and that does not kick in for another few months. Only then can she go to her boss who is the Head of the Nursing Department (played by Kim Dickens). Amy cannot afford to get sick or take time off, until she has been there a year. But her outlook brightens when a new employee comes on board.

There is a male nurse named Charlie Cullen (played by Eddie Redmayne) that begins working in the hospital ER Recovery ward with Amy. Charlie has been around to quite a few locations, and he knows his way around the rooms and the backrooms. Amy is thrilled to have one more person to help with difficult work of getting patients out of danger. She is very personable with all of the people in need, and she sees that Charlie has technical expertise. It’s odd that he never wants to spend time with the patients and get to know them.

One of the people in the ER ward dies unexpectedly. This really tears up Amy, and she thinks it was a fluke. Charlie finds out that Amy has a bad heart, and that she needs to limit her stress. He helps her out even more, including coming over and helping with her kids. Just a few more months and Amy will have the coverage that she needs. Almost two months later, the hospital lawyer and the other administrators call a meeting. It is about the ‘unusual incident’ that happened several weeks ago.

The hospital has done a ‘thorough’ internal investigation about the ER patient death. By law, the administrators contact the local police. A couple of detectives are assigned to the case. Det. Danny Baldwin (played by Nnamdi Asomugha) and his partner Det. Tim Braun (played by Noah Emmerich) wonder why this even came to their attention. It is nearly two months after the ‘unusual incident’, and there is no suspicion of foul play. The body has been cremated and there are almost no details given to them by the hospital.

The lawyers and the administrators at the hospital are going through the motions of being responsive. They are following the letter of the law, but shredding the spirit of the law. The detectives ask to interview the staff. But the Head of the Nursing Department must be in the room also, so that no real information can get out. Amy speaks with the detectives Braun and Baldwin. She does not think anything bad happened. But then she sees the test sample reports…

Amy has even more interactions with Charlie, when he helps her every evening. He even comes over to babysit her kids once in a while. He goes with when Amy goes to see her heart doctor. He encourages her to hang on and wait a little longer. She is going to make to the date when she gets her health insurance. Charlie has some mean things to say about his ex-wife. Plus he sure seems to know how to get around the automated medication system, if he needs medications for any reason…

Amy has some doubts about the first ER patient who died. She seemed to have a double-dose of insulin, but she was not diabetic. Then there is another patient who is in the middle of steady recovery. She too dies overnight. Amy is now feeling very uneasy about everything that is happening. Why is Charlie so good at the technical aspects of nursing, but then seems to not care that much about the patients? How did he find out about the flaw in the medication system? For how long has he been able get out medications? And how many times was it insulin?

“The Good Nurse” seems like a far-fetched, overly melodramatic crime procedural. Until you step back and realize, this is based on true events. There were quite a few ‘unusual incident’ events that happened at many hospitals. All of the hospitals involved drew a curtain of silence around all of events. Due to privacy issues, and liability concerns – there was a true-to-life Serial Killer on the loose, and nobody tried to stop him.

This one male nurse was the common thread, and his employment caused rumors and suspicion at every hospital. Yet, when the deaths occurred, at many places over many years – all of the top brass at all the locations refused to address any of it. Only when one fragile woman nurse gets wind of what is going on – she becomes that “Good Nurse”. The Good Nurse tries to take on the Bad Administration.

Jessica Chastain (as Amy) and Eddie Redmayne (as Charlie Cullen) are low-key and subdued. They bring an emotional weight to the plight of the two nurses, both working on opposite sides of good and evil. Noah Emmerich (Det. Braun) and Nnamdi Asomugha (Det. Baldwin) are also really good in the roles of homicide detectives brought in where there is no apparent homicide.

“The Good Nurse” takes your vital signs and gives them a little push in this emotional story based on true, but very horrific, events.