Doubt (2008)

5 STARS


Directed by John Patrick Shanley
Produced by Mark Roybal, Scott Rudin
Written by John Patrick Shanley (based on his play, Doubt: A Parable)

Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Runtime 1 hour, 44 min.
Worldwide Gross $50,847,196
Genres Drama, Mystery

It's hard to express just how amazing this film is. Based off John Patrick Shanley's epic Tony Award-winning play, Doubt tells the story of a Catholic school in The Bronx. It's 1964 and Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep) is having some doubts about the school's reverend, Father Brendan Flynn (Hoffman). She tells her fellow sisters to keep an eye out for suspicious activity. When Sister James (Adams) tells Aloysius about a private meeting Flynn had with one of the school's children, chaos ensues.

Throughout the film, some things should be considered. Are the child abusers really the enemy? Or are the people who go after them the ones we should be worrying about? No one's saying that child abusers should be given sympathy. But is searching for them like a witch hunt really an effective way to do things? If Aloysius had never told her Sisters to look for suspicious activity, would anything at all have stood out to Sister James? These are questions that came to my mind when watching Doubt.

Something great about Doubt is its cast. Academy Award nominations went to Streep, Hoffman, Adams and Viola Davis as Mrs. Miller. But the performance that stands out the most to me is Streep's. Her performance is the best I've ever seen her in. She plays her role with an incredible power that puts every other modern-day actor to shame. After all, what other actors can say that they have fifteen Oscar nominations? But this role takes the cake.

The film's script is great as well. There's many memorable lines and some scenes that will never leave my mind. What's really great about the screenplay is that each character has their own noticeable traits to identify them with. Unlike some films, Doubt's characters are fully developed. Father Flynn has his eyecatching flamboyance, Sister James has her incredible kindness and devotion and Aloysius keeps strong with her die hard strictness. It's with theses quirks that the actors mend so well with.

Are there any bad qualities in this film? To tell the truth, I can't find any. Everything just seems so amazing to me. Some critics say that some of the film's scenes seem fake and overstaged. I completely disagree. To me, you can't get any more real than the drama displayed in Doubt. Its writing is pure as it can possibly get. Conversely, other critics said that Doubt wasn't dramatic enough. That it didn't shock them like a mystery film should. But in my opinion, Doubt isn't a film that's supposed to shock you. It's supposed to make you think. And Doubt certainly does this.

Doubt is definitely another amazing film in a great year for cinema. How it managed not to score a Best Picture nomination astounds me. Doubt is truly exceptional and succeeds in ways that other films don't even come close to. Even if you don't like it as much as I do, Doubt is still a film that you should see at least once.

Doubt is rated PG-13 for thematic material.