Oscar Month Twofer: Doubt (2008)

Hilarity ensues as a charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is trying to upend St. Nicholas' strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller (Joseph Foster). But when Sister James (Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.

Trivia: The Broadway play ran for over a year, with 525 performances. The play won four Tony awards: Best Play, Best Director (Doug Hughes), Best Actress (Cherry Jones), and Best Featured Actress (Adriane Lenox). Oprah Winfrey reportedly lobbied for the role of Mrs. Miller, but John Patrick Shanley refused to even give her a reading.

Hmmm, let's see, why am I reviewing this movie during Oscar Month? Did it get nominated for any Oscars? Oh yeah, three. One for Meryl "I always get nominated" Streep for Best Actress. One for Amy "See I can play dramatic roles" Adams for Best Supporting Actress and one for Viola "Whoo Hoo, two scenes one nomination!" Davis for Best Supporting Actress. Okay, let's take these one at a time. Viola Davis was in a total of two scenes. That's it, two. The first is an extended dialogue with Meryl Streep's character, Sister Aloysius. In the second, she appears only for about 10 seconds and does not speak. I don't mean to denegrate Ms. Davis (who plays the mother of the boy Father Flynn is accused of acosting) , but she was only in two scenes. They were nice scenes but really. I know Michael Shannon was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in Revolutionary Road and he was in two scenes, but he really made an impact on the movie. Viola Davis didn't have as much impact. Wasn't there anyone else? Next Amy Adams. She is okay in her role as the young nun who didn't know quite what to do or who to believe but not groundbreaking. Then there was Meryl Streep. The Mercedes of the bunch. The top dog. The queen of acting. The, well, you get my point. Sometimes I think the Academy falls back on what they know. They know Streep. Was she good? Yes. Was she scary? Yes. Was she imtimidating? Yes. Was this her best work? Nope. Of course a subpar performance from her could beat plenty of career performances by others, but not this year. I did like how the movie kept you guessing all the way through if the father was guilty or not.