Doubt

Doubt
Starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams & Viola Davis

John Patrick Shanley's 2005 Pulitzer and Tony-winning play, "Doubt, a Parable," comes to the big screen with a smaller name (just drop the "a Parable" part) breathing life into the four-character original. Next to "Hamlet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" Shanley has written one of the best plays of all time - no over-exaggeration. It is perfect. So, it's worrisome to watch a sheer masterpiece on the big screen with big names: Streep, Hoffman, Adams. "Doubt" in the cinematic form is not perfection, however Shanley's screenplay portrays St. Nicholas Catholic School in a way the play only imagined, said with both approbation and uneasiness.

This story is a tricky one to adjust. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Father Brendan Flynn, a cordial, jolly priest who gains the trust of the community, the audience and his colleagues. This role is thrown into a sticky situation due to Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), and must be interpreted with much care. Aloysius, the school's principal and Flynn's inferior, speculates that he has involved himself in inappropriate relations with one or more of her students. Hoffman's job is to gain the trust of the audience by seeming... normal. Shanley's script allows for slight creepiness to ooze out of Flynn (i.e. long fingernails and Kool-aid and cookies), but it must be subtle enough for the trust to remain. Hoffman succeeds in this task. Though many doubted the casting for Flynn, this man tackles the role like he always does.

Sister Aloysius is another role that can go terribly in the wrong direction. Honestly, the previews showed her loud, vicious side which should only come out a few times. Streep keeps her character in control, but also gives Aloysius more humanness than expected, which was very pleasing. She did not become an unbeatable force. She has weaknesses, hidden through a clouded window. The Queen of Holloywood illustrates that age will never bring her down, and I hope she earns her third Oscar for this terrific and commanding performance.

As for Viola Davis' Mrs. Miller (formerly known as Muller in the play) and Amy Adams' Sister James, Adams wins by a long shot despite all the critics' opinions. We know Adams can play the innocent, naive character ("Junebug," "Enchanted," and "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"), and she delights us one more time as the young nun who is the go-between for Aloysius and Flynn. Though she has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a SAG, just like Davis, Adams is still underrated. Sister James is the keystone to "Doubt." She represents the audience. She embodies the adjective, "wishy-washy," which may seem like a weakness, but is in fact the essence of this movie. To doubt yourself and others is to think anew. One can either keep on believing the same thing, doing the same routine, remaining innocent, or one can change. James' psychological transformation is beautiful and sad. Because Aloysius brought the woman into a world of doubt and uncertainty, a world she can never revisit, James has new ideas and thoughts - she doubts. We, the audience, are the same as she. We are unsure of Flynn and Aloysius. We follow James, and maybe believe her more above her superiors.

Mrs. Miller, the mother of the black boy supposedly involved with Father Flynn, commands one single scene. Viola Davis arrives as the only character completely sure of themselves, even if everything else is askew. The virtually unknown actress dominates Streep, but only because the script allows her too. The woman is excellent, but overrated with the world of cinema. This woman gave a powerful performance, full of profundity on countless levels, but deserves no award over Adams as the supporting lady.

The play was Shanley's masterpiece, his baby; he had to take control in the film adaptation. Any sane person would have. However, some of his decisions in the adaptation took the story down different paths. It was the slight changes that stirred in me. The lines he cut that should have been savored and a few actions that weren't played out. Perhaps they were minuscule items that bothered him. With polished cinematography and angles that can only be defined as tipsy, the feel of the film serves as excellent and a bit unnerving.

In bringing a jewel of the stage to life on the screen, there will be some stains and spots, however, Shanley and the eternally memorable cast keep "Doubt" priceless.

Grade: A