Doubt

I saw the broadway play a few years ago and really didn't care for it. I dislike things that don't even attempt to give you a final answer.

Doubt is about a nun who think a priest is molesting a kid. And it's all about doubting yourself, your faith and just everything in general. The only thing this film does is create an interesting conversation piece, at least the play did anyway.

The film is filled with little clues and annoying shots that are never explained and left to the viewer to notice and make sense of. Why does a light bulb blow out? WHy are the windows open? What's the point of the pen?

If you look close enough you'll find the answers like the windows show the young nuns mindset, open and when Streap's nun closes it it shows not only her closemindedness but how she wants everyone to see things as she sees them. It's why see tells Amy Adams to keep her eyes open because she wants to see something because that is what she believes.

The thing is, the audience I saw this with oohed and ahhs and gasped and all kinds of other shit. They had gone to catholic school, had nuns like Streaps and blah blah blah. I wanted to hurt all of them for falling into the films grasp because really, the answer is thrown at you with so many awkward scenes and a few lines that you're stupid if you don't see the true answer, despite an openended finale.

And I can't do this review without talking about the acting. I think Streap is great in most of her roles. I think she fails in this role. She's all over the place with the character and instead of coming off as a very stern, somewhat of a bitch nun with a kinder side to her, she comes off as a manic depressive cunt. PSH is another person who I think is awesome. However, he asked the writer what the truth is and the writer has refused to openly comment on it as the whole point is you never know if he fucks the black boy. Well PSH said it would help him with the character but also to cast doubt on the other actors so it felt more real.

The problem here is that he plays into it too much. It makes some things obvious and everything falls back onto one line in the movie and it's during the first confrontation so if you see this then keep your ears open for it and then talk about it afterwards.

Not a terrible film but it's a useless one with some very odd acting choices from the cast and the film uses too many "subtle" images to push you into your conclusions instead of allowing you to make them yourself ala the play.

Entertainment Value - 2/5

Movie - 2.5 /5