Doubt Review
Not to use the cliched press puns I try to avoid on this website, but, hell it kinda fits here. Doubt gives you plenty of reasons to doubt it’s a good movie.
It’s about two nuns, Sister James (Amy Adams) sees the priest Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) doing some shady stuff after requesting a private meeting with one of his altar boys. After this both nuns work together to find the truth, but ultimately only one (Sister Aloysius, Merryl Streep) has the guts to push it past a simple questioning of the Father.
But anyway, like I was saying, at first you might think this movie is actually kind of low-quality.
First there’s the performances. Meryl Streep seems like she’s stuck in caricature as the stiff nun Sister Aloysius, her lip perpetually curled up as if frozen in place.
Likewise, the performance of Amy Adams as Sister James seems fairly stereotypical. She is on one note as the innocent gentle lamb nun, the witness to Father Flynn’s suspicious behavior.
Really the only one out of the leads giving a performance that seems based in reality, and not acting for the back-row theatre, is Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn. He’s so ingratiating and charmingly average-Joe like as the priest you initially identify with him more than the uptight Sister Aloysius.
But in a credit to John Patrick Shanley’s writing, the characters that initially seemed flat (the two lead nun characters) gradually show deeper, surprising layers (particularly Merryl Streep by the end of the film). The likeable Father Flynn also shows his true colors as the film continues, and you come to really respect and admire Sister Aloysius for her perseverance in doing the right thing, even if no one else supports her (including the mother of the child she fears is being abused).
Shanley does a nice enough job as a director that the production rarely feels stage-bound in its translation to the screen.
This is a movie that slowly builds itself up, and by the end you ultimately respect it as a fine work of art.
The One Part of It That Could Be Taken As Sorta Sleazy
A lot of tension is kept up by the ambiguity around whether Father Flynn is really guilty. Playing off this sort of paperback thriller device with child abuse is not necessarily a good thing, but you kind of give the movie a pass since really the entire theme is “What do you do when you’re not sure?”.
Give Her That Oscar!
Viola Davis really does make that strong of an impact in what is essentially one long scene with her as the suffering mother of the possibly sexually abused child in question. I’d give her the Oscar just for keeping her emotional energy up as we literally see snot drip from her nose into her mouth.
Gross details aside, it is a tremendously powerful performance.
Speaking of Which
Viola Davis’ scene sort of underscores a problem with the whole movie, because of the church setting most of the emotions are restrained, which makes it all a teensy bit dull.
What’s That Noise! Heavy-Handed Symbolism
Shanley uses a lot of writing gimmicks to symbolize the rising tension of the play and internal turmoil of the characters. A harsh wind blows as Sister James sits up, unable to sleep in bed. A lightbulb in Sister Aloysius’s office keeps breaking during tense exchanges with Father Flynn and/or Sister James. After Sister Aloysius learns of Father Flynn’s suspicious behavior and resigns herself to moving against him another woman exits the room with a cat she brought to kill a mouse saying something to the effect of, “It takes a cat.” Merryl Streep repeats, “Yes it does,” twice like Cruella DeVille. A cat! Get it! The cat=Merryl Streep! It’s a bit heavy-handed.
-Dan Benamor