Doubt
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy AdamsStudio: Miramax
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release: April 7th 2009
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DVD Review
From Miramax Films comes one of the most honored and acclaimed motion pictures of the year, Doubt. Based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Doubt is a mesmerizing, suspense-filled drama with four riveting performances from Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis that will have you pinned to the edge of your seat. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), the rigid and fear-inspiring principal of the Saint Nicholas Church School, suffers an extreme dislike for the progressive and popular parish priest Father Flynn (Hoffman). Looking for wrongdoing in every corner, Sister Aloysius believes she's uncovered the ultimate sin when she hears Father Flynn has taken a special interest in a troubled boy. But without proof, the only thing certain is doubt.
"One of the best pictures of the year," (USA Today, Rolling Stone, New York Post, San Francisco Examiner, Roger Ebert).
Bonus Features include From Stage To Screen, Scoring Doubt, The Sisters Of Charity
User Reviews
Questions Worth Asking - Rating: 5/5
This subtle film earned Oscar nominations, yet failed to make much of a splash at the box office. I was intrigued by the premise of a priest suspected of impropriety with an altar boy, but also put off by this subject that's been in headlines for the past decade. My wife and I finally decided to give it a chance, and we were both blown away by the story's layers, themes, and stellar acting on the parts of all involved.
"Doubt" is not a movie to provide easy answers. It sets out to uncover our prejudices and assumptions, our rigid rules, and then upsets them with a powerful story of an accused priest and the accusing Sister of Mercy, the principal of a small school in the Bronx. Between these two opponents, played to perfection by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep, a kind-hearted nun provides the warmth this film needs. Amy Adams is amazing in this part, bringing depth despite the restraint required in the role. Rounding out the ensemble cast, Viola Davis plays the role of the altar boy's mother with empathy, depth, and heartrending honesty.
The film opens with a sermon about doubt and its ability to strengthen. Throughout the film, our own doubts are stirred. We're made uncomfortable. We must think through our initial suspicions, realizing that many of life's situations require us to act even when we are not sure about something. How can a principal ignore the welfare of her own student? On the other hand, how can a well-meaning priest be blackmailed without any apparent evidence? These are only the first of many questions to be answered, and yet "Doubt" refuses to offer up easy explanations, instead requiring us to ponder these themes and come to our own conclusions.
I loved the uncertainties of this film. With incredible acting and sure-handed directing, "Doubt" proves that not all American films are about car chases and explosions, that not all moviegoers check out their brains as they enter the theater. The villains and heroes are not always who we expect, and even those watching this film might disagree on who filled those stereotypical roles. It's this uncertainty that makes "Doubt" so powerful.
Miramax does it again - Rating: 1/5
Man, Miramax can get a ham sandwich nominated for an academy award. This movie is awful. Philip Seymour Hoffman basically sleep walks through this movie. I love the comments from the people who love this movie. They feel the need to attack anyone who gives it less than 4 stars by saying it was a smart movie, and we (the haters) just need to go back to dumb action movies. How pretentious.
In order to enjoy a character driven movie you must emotionally invest in at least one of the characters.
Since we never find out if the priest is a pedophile then how can we care about him.
The head nun is an absolute witch that we can not help hating. But what if she is correct? We never find out.
The boy's mother basically says that since her son is gay (he's 12) then it is ok for him to be molested by a priest because the alternative was beatings from his father. Um, I would rather take the beatings thank you. So you hate the mother too.
The boy's teacher is just so ineffectual and useless, and we never see enough of the boy to make our own judgment about him. My understanding is that in the original play you never see the boy or any of the children. I guess the writers did not do a good enough job of adding in those missing characters.
So that is all the characters. Tell me if you feel like investing 2 hours in any of them.
Ah Miramax you got me again.
Time for a ham sandwich.
Doubt - Rating: 5/5
Meryl Steep does a great job in this movie as she doubts the priest because she thinks that he sexually harress one of the students. This movie won 5 academy awards and it surely shows that.
Starts slow but builds to a powerful conclusion - Rating: 5/5
The doubt is on two levels. One, there is the doubt that Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) molested the boy. The deeper doubt is that if he did, did he do anything wrong? Or on an even deeper level, did the wrong that he did outweigh the good that he did? This last question is at the very heart of the relationship between priests and boys in the near contemporary American society depicted in this film.
Personally I don't believe that the ephemeral culture in which we live can answer that question. Perhaps it is true that people like Father Flynn are compelled to do good in this world for just those boys who most need them because of their "nature" (as Meryl Streep's character Sister Aloysius puts it). Science has a lot of trouble accounting for homosexuality, and understandably most scientists aren't interested in exploring why some men are sexually attracted to boys. The truth from an evolutionary point of view must be that in some sense that attraction leads to, paradoxically, a better fit for not only the boy, which is obvious in some circumstances, but also for the man. How can this be? Most theories about homosexuality invoke male bonding as the evolutionary force that makes the behavior adaptive. Homosexual males bond with other males (homosexual or not) and thereby increase their access to females. So great is the advantage that accrues to such males that even the homosexual males (who mate only to have offspring) have an adaptive advantage over outsider males.
But what is the adaptive advantage to males who are sexually attracted only to boys?
In a way this film (and the direction by John Patrick Shanley based on his play) actually addresses this question. The answer comes from the scene in which Sister Aloysius and the boy's mother (Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller) talk and walk. The mother clearly sees that whether her boy is getting molested by the priest or not is secondary to the fact that the priest cares about him more than his father. In other words (and most specifically in other circumstances) the priest would become the ally of the mother and they would bond. In a world far removed from ours, in the prehistory, they might become as one. Or in a world removed from the celibacy of the priesthood he would love the boy and the mother and she would love him and sex would happen, although perhaps not as frequently as it would if the man were heterosexual. Certainly he is a better man for the boy and for any further boys than a father who would beat his son.
Meryl Streep who has given us so many brilliant performances gives yet another one here. And Hoffman ditto. I have said it before and I'll repeat it, Meryl Streep is nearly flawless in everything she does. Philip Seymour Hoffman ditto. To see two of the greatest actors of our time in the same film is quite a treat. To give them such indelible characters to work with and such a compelling story to act out is really wonderful. And I must say that Amy Adams who played Sister James was also excellent and was not noticeably overshadowed by Streep and Hoffman. Viola Davis who played the one scene as the boy's mother was also excellent.
The movie starts slowly as in a play, which it is. This is allowable since the play-going audience has an investment and won't get up even if the first act goes slowly. After a few minutes the story picks up and gathers power until, with a not entirely discernable suddenness, we are enthralled. In the end we realize how quickly the story was actually told.
Do not give up on this after the first ten or fifteen minutes. It is a story about an issue for our times not to be missed, told with dignity and compassion for all concerned, and with a deep appreciation for the subtleties and paradoxes of human nature and the complexities of our world.
Not bad,but could had been better - Rating: 3/5
I was expecting that the movie would have scenes turning into doonybrook style because of Meryl Streep's character exposing the sex scandal in the church.The acting was good.But the only one who did well in the movie was Meryl Streep's character.I did not like the dialogue of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character.To me the script was watered down.I was expecting the news media to get a hold of the story and things go wild.Why wasn't Hoffman's character arrested?Viola Davis was okay in the film.Amy Adams was fine but her character could have used a good script.In fact,Meryl Streep got a better script than anyone else.But on the other hand my review is mixed.
