‘Nurse!’ fails to administer any laughs

“Yes Nurse! No Nurse!” is a campy, cotton-candy musical comedy fantasy from the Netherlands -- where it should have stayed.

At once corny and precious, its humor seems too heavily ethnic to travel well, even though it was a hit as a TV series in the 1960s. It’s possible to imagine it scheduled as a midnight movie novelty in a gay film festival but seems entirely unsuitable for theatrical release.

Its setting is Nurse Klivia’s Rest Home, which is a misnomer even though Klivia (Loes Luca), a soft-hearted middle-aged redhead, always wears a nurse’s uniform. In fact, it is a small boarding house with a hefty boarder, a skinny boarder, an inventor working on a “nice” pill and a shy girl, Jet (Tjitske Reidinga), who one day is escorted home in the rain by Gerrit (Waldemar Torenstra), a hunky, blond-streaked burglar to whom Klivia gives shelter and sets about reforming.

Klivia’s killjoy, Scrooge-like landlord and next-door-neighbor, Mr. Boordevol (Paul R. Kooij), is constantly complaining and hauling Klivia off to court for the noisy “You Can’t Take It With You” shenanigans going on at the rest home. But Boordevol inadvertently takes one of the inventor’s experimental “nice” pills and is transformed.

A closeted gay, he suddenly embraces his old boyfriend Wouter (Paul de Leeuw), a plump fellow with a pompadour hairpiece, whom Boordevol had shunned when he opened a beauty salon. Nobody knows, however, how long the effects of the pill will last.

The cast is energetic and broad in sitcom style, and director Pieter Kramer and co-writer Frank Houtappels, like their actors, have the courage of the saccharine, zany silliness of their material.

There’s lots going on all the time, from the mildly ingenious and funny to lots of old-fashioned musical numbers. But the overall effect of “Yes Nurse! No Nurse!,” which is adapted from a stage musical based on the TV series, is drawn-out tedium.

*

‘Yes Nurse! No Nurse!’

MPAA rating: Unrated

Times guidelines: Suitable for all ages

Loes Luca...Nurse Klivia

Paul R. Kooij...Boordevol

Paul de Leeuw...Wouter

Waldemar Torenstra...Gerrit

Tjitske Reidinga...Jet

A here! Films of a Bos Bros. Production. Director Pieter Kramer. Producers Burny Bos, Michiel de Rooij, Sabine Veenendaal. Screenplay Frank Houtappels, Kramer. Based on the television series created by Annie M.G. Schmid and Harry Bannink. Cinematographer Piotr Kukla. Editor Elja de Lange. Music Raymond van Santen, Ferdinand Boland. Choreographer Suzy Blok. Costumes Monica Petit, Maartje Wevers. Production designer Vincent de Pater. In Dutch, with English subtitles. Exclusively at the Regent Showcase, 614 N. La Brea Ave., (323) 934-2944.