'Doubt' review

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams (Credit: Andrew Schwartz/Miramax)

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In 1964 at a Catholic school in the Bronx, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) favors a more easygoing rule, while principal Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) prefers intimidating the children with rigid, steely discipline. When Donald (Joseph Foster), the school’s lone black student, returns from a meeting with Flynn looking upset and -- according to his teacher, Sister James (Amy Adams) -- smelling of alcohol, Sister Aloysius becomes convinced that Flynn has made inappropriate advances towards the boy. She then launches a campaign to convince everyone that what she believes is true and send Father Flynn packing. Viola Davis has a couple tremendous scenes as Donald's mother.
 
The buzz: The presence of controversy in the Catholic Church is pretty far-fetched (chuckle), but "Doubt" boasts quite the acting A-list, starring two Oscars winners and a nominee. Plus, it's written and directed by John Patrick Shanley--who also wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play--so safe to say the translation's in good hands, even if Shanley hasn't directed a movie since 1990's "Joe Versus the Volcano."

The verdict: Streep's performance is at times too mannered, but her oral barbs are deliciously vicious, like she's got a spiked tongue filled with poison. "Doubt" is similarly tense, tilting the scales between suspicion and defense, wondering if characters are turning nothing into something or trying to turn something into nothing. The film's final moments are questionable, more turning points would help--everyone keeps talking and talking about the same thing without advancing the story--and the film may not fully explore its themes about new ideas in an old church. But it's a terrifically acted thinker in which every perspective is open to interpretation, and ambiguity and truth switch places depending on who's looking.

Did you know? Sister Aloysius admits that nuns often trip on their habit. We smell a “Caught on Hidden Camera”-style FOX special in the works.

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