The Good Nurse
“Tobias Lindholm renders The Good Nurse with more sensitivity than other titles in the true crime genre.”
Title: The Good Nurse (2022)
Director: Tobias Lindholm 👨🏼🇩🇰
Writers: Screenplay by Kristy Wilson-Cairns 👩🏼🏴 based on the book by Charles Graber 👨🏼🇺🇸
Reviewed by Symphony Barnes 👩🏻🇺🇸
Technical: 3.75/5
Based on a book by Charles Graeber and adapted to the screen by Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Netflix’s The Good Nurse turns into a chilling thriller under the direction of Danish filmmaker Tobias Lindholm. Recounting the true story of a serial killer named Charlie Cullen (played by Eddie Redmayne) but through the eyes of his coworker and friend, Amy Loughren (Jessica Chastain), this true crime story doesn’t stray far from the formula: It’s simple, grim, and reasonably-paced. Cinematography adequately mirrors its unsettling tone through muted hues of beiges and blue. Nothing feels particularly innovative; no plot points will surprise you. However, The Good Nurse remains engaging and avoids glamorizing its villain, a pitfall that so many tales in this genre unfortunately fall into.
This is largely helped by the filmmakers’ decision to center Amy as the hero of a story that concerns itself with systemic failures of hospitals and law enforcement. The script establishes her well enough for audiences to get behind her, but it does fall short on fully realizing the character. Instead, The Good Nurse relies on nuanced performances by Academy Award-winning actors Chastain and Redmayne to breathe life into their roles.
The subsequent friendship between Amy and Charlie feels believable as a unique one borne of need, as Lindholm effectively shows how neither adult has many friends or family. This shared experience leads them to entangle their lives, to the point where Charlie regularly comes over to help Amy take care of her daughters—a situation where Redmayne nails his portrayal of an evil deceiver who has wormed his way into Amy’s vulnerable household.
Despite these high points, however, The Good Nurse could have given more screen time to the actual victims and their families. The decision to prioritize Amy’s point of view over Charlie’s is a start, along with the questions the movie brings up about accountability and why individuals would ever commit such sordid acts. But if The Good Nurse is a sign of where true crime films currently sit, room for improvement remains.
Gender: 3.75/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? Yes
As mentioned, the film plays out through Amy, a single parent and the only breadwinner who juggles a breakneck work schedule as a nurse on top of her life-threatening condition of cardiomyopathy. She holds a lot of agency, especially after discovering the truth about Charlie as she helps gather enough evidence for detectives Tim Braun (Noah Emmerich) and Danny Baldwin (Nnamdi Asomugha) to finally put the killer behind bars.
Lindholm explains his decision to center Amy as a justice seeker. "At the core … there's a story about a female superhero: a naturalistic, lonely, struggling mom who went in and offered something to this world that we miss these days, which is goodness and charity and friendship. That she went in and battled evilness with friendship and love."
Amy also has a complicated relationship with her older daughter, Alex (Alix West Lefler). About 10 years old, Alex often gets upset because her mother has to be away at work, leaving her and her younger sister with a babysitter. But through their ups and downs, this conflict eventually resolves in an overly neat fashion. Still, it’s still a welcome backstory for the film’s protagonist—one that doesn’t rely on Charlie (or any man, for that matter) to build Amy’s personhood.
After this mother-daughter duo, other women such as Amy’s boss Vivian Neal (Myra Lucretia Taylor) or babysitter Jackie (Marcia Jean Kurtz) fall to minor, forgettable roles. But it’s worth mentioning the female hospital patients who become victims of Charlie: Ana Martinez (Judith Delgado) and Kelly Anderson (Anjelica Bosboom). These two are not based on real people, but rather fictional representations of the several patients. Screenwriter Wilson-Cairns thoughtfully refrained from using the real identities of Cullen’s victims, saying, “You don’t want to revictimize them. We weren’t in those rooms. I didn’t meet the victims’ families to really understand who these people were. So frankly, I would feel a bit dirty [using their identities].” While Ana and Kelly receive little screen time, the dialogue they do get proves fruitful and they come across as sympathetic characters with backstories, not just nameless casualties.
Race: 3/5
The Good Nurse features a mostly white cast with the exception of Detective Baldwin, who was the real officer assigned to investigate Charlie Cullen (played by Nigerian American Asomugha in the film). Although this imbalance reflects the real-world setting of Somerville, New Jersey, which was predominately white in 2003 when the events took place, it’s still disappointing that the few Black and Latino characters are written shallowly. This includes minor but high-powered characters like Dr. Robert Hind (Ajay Naidu) and hospital administrator Vivian, as well as hospital patients like Ana and her husband Sam Martinez (Jesus-Papoleto Melendez).
The film’s colorblind approach feels especially insufficient when faced with the fact that Charlie probably got away with murdering untold people across nine healthcare facilities because he was a straight, white man. The Good Nurse squarely blames the healthcare and criminal justice systems that allowed Charlie to victimize people over and over again, yet doesn’t want to acknowledge the glaring role of racial inequality that played a major factor. It’s a missed opportunity to unearth more truth to why Charlie was allowed free rein for so long.
Bonus for Disability: +0.75
Amy is depicted with cardiomyopathy, a condition that Loughren had in real life. Although its severity was dramatized for film—Loughren was never on a transplant list, for example—it’s still positive to see The Good Nurse include this detail. Viewers watch as Amy lives on a razor’s edge between life and death, all while juggling an intense job, working long hours, and anxiously maintaining secrecy around her disability so that she won’t get fired. The film sternly critiques the American healthcare system that fails our hero, and to a broader extent, fails so many American residents who live with disabilities.
Mediaversity Grade: B- 3.75/5
While The Good Nurse is far from perfect, Lindholm does render the film with more sensitivity than other sensationalist titles in the true crime genre. Thanks in large part to great lead performances, the story stays dynamic and thoughtful throughout its runtime. Sure, it may not set any precedents, but at least it has purpose.
Like The Good Nurse? Try these other titles starring Jessica Chastain or Eddie Redmayne.
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2021)
It: Chapter Two (2019)
Molly’s Game (2018)