Doubt Review

Overall 4.00 of 5 view all 7 reviews

kevin
Chicago, IL

You'll end up Doubt-ing why you decided to see this movie

a movie lover, an infrequent movie goer, history buff

Pros

strong performances

Cons

ambigous and unfulfilling

FEB

2009

Doubt (2008) is a movie set within a Catholic grade school and parish in 1960s Boston. The premise is that Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) suspects Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of having an inappropriate relationship with the only African-American boy in the school. The timid and younger nun, Sister James (Amy Adams), is caught in the middle of these two strong leaders of the parish and their resulting conflict.

Did he do it or did he not? The problem with this movie is that it doesn't come out and make a strong statement either way. It gets lost in it's own attempt to walk a middle road and to show how each character's motivations lead to the ambiguities of the situation. I can applaud the screenwriter's attempt to tackle a topical issue from all sides and without overtly casting blame, but it makes for an unfulfilling movie watching experience.

That said, the true redemption of this film comes in the strong performances that Hoffman and Streep deliver. The characters are well written and the actors do justice to the emotional weight required by the subject matter. I felt sympathetic to both lead characters and the positions that they found themselves in.

Overall though, I'm on the fence with this movie. If you have any interest in the subject matter or the Church in general, you might enjoy Doubt, but I was left doubting my decision to see this movie. 3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

Doubt is not recommended by kevin

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Comments about kevin’s Review

Nice review!!

Wow... you and I could have written the same review, and I swear that I didn't read yours before writing mine. Nicely done!

--Bob

If anything else, I suppose it makes one think. Doubt was an odd flick. I liked that it made me think, but it drives me insane that I didn't get any resolution out of the ending.