Review: Doubt

Review: Doubt

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 75%

Four excellent performances grace Doubt: Meryl Streep, brilliant as always; Philip Seymour Hoffman, chillingly confident; Amy Adams, doing her naive ingenue -- this time in a habit; and Viola Davis, a complex revelation. The fifth excellent performance is that of the cinematographer Roger Deacons, especially in a pivotal scene between Streep and Davis where dialogue and camera are perfectly paired. Streep is no ordinary nun -- and halfway through the film we find out why. Unlike most nuns of that era (the 1960s) she didn't go straight from high school (or even grade school) to the convent.

The subject of the film is the possible molestation of a child by a priest but the subtext is the nature of power and authority. In one marvelous scene, Hoffman comes to Streep's office and sits behind her desk in her chair asserting his power and dominance. This action sets off a battle for control of the room that doesn't end until the film does.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it