CS Weekly Archive > Weekend Read > 12/12/08

I Have Doubts

By nick randall

Doubt

John Patrick Shanley
Adapted from his play

In 1964, the likable Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is head priest at St. Nicholas, where he's trying to rid the school of its old, strict customs. He receives resistance from Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the stuffy school principal who has suspicions that Father Flynn is not as innocent as he appears. When Sister James (Amy Adams) reveals that Flynn called the school's only black child, Donald, to a private meeting during class, and the child later returned with alcohol on his breath, Sister Beauvier begins a crusade to expose Flynn for having improper relations with a student. It's rare to see a film focus so much on the complexity of a single word—doubt—and while Shanley's script gets a ton of mileage out of what amounts to very little plot, the story ultimately feels thin and incomplete. Thankfully there are enough stand-out scenes, such as Sister Beauvier learning that Donald's own mother has reasons for ignoring the matter entirely, which will leave you questioning even the most basic of moral convictions. The film is worth seeing, but more for the performances than the script.

Doubt
Miramax
Rated PG-13; 104 min.

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Nick Randall received his MFA in Screenwriting from Loyola Marymount University in 2006. He can be found at the beach or a cubicle somewhere working on his latest screenplay.

Doubt courtesy Miramax

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