'The Good Nurse' is a bad film.

'The Good Nurse' is a bad film. And I'm a big fan of both Ms. Chastaine and Mr. Redmayne. So just imagine ....

It never creates the dramatic tension the subject - a nurse who murders his patients - would have us waiting for. Jessica Chastain is fine as the 'good nurse'; we care about her and care about her family. Eddie Redmayne is somehow less convincing as the 'bad' one. But the performances are not what fail this film. It's either the screenplay or the direction (or both), because this film is absolutely dead up on the screen. Having streamed it at home, I cannot imagine how very dead it would appear on a larger-than-life theatrical screen.

Chastain's character is a nurse who suffers from heart disease but has four months of work remaining before she qualifies for Health Insurance. A quick note: I found this (1) hard to believe and (2) an absolute contrivance. In any case Redmayne, the new 'bad' nurse, vows to help her out at work and at home so that she can somehow reach the four month goal. And ... he does. Which makes it more difficult for her to believe, to go to the authorities with, her suspicions. And that's about it. Will she or won't she? And while this might read as a truly dramatic text, believe me, it's not.

The film has a hazy look to it. The music has a hazy sound to it. Some of the authorities are super devious and self serving, others are super intuitive and perceptive; my way of saying that very few characters act the way real people might act in such a situation. The film is based on a true story and perhaps, because of this, the story lacks fiction's dramatic intensity. I don't know if this is the reason, but I never once felt a sense of peril; either for the victims or Chastain's character.