On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 3/31 |
John Seal |
Superbly acted, thought provoking play-on-film |
| 7/21 |
Jason Lee |
Incredible well-written film, with complex moral questions and a breathtakingly great performance by Streep |
| 10/52 |
Sean Collier |
An acting clinic with an intriguing play on protagonist and antagonist. |
| 14/196 |
Max Braden |
The movie had me wondering throughout. Adams' Bo Peep is a little much but Hoffman's character is great and Streeps nun is one of film history's all-time villains. |
| 18/43 |
Kim Hollis |
Some really fine performances from Adams and Hoffman. Streep is overrated, but I do like the multi-leveled themes. |
| 75/98 |
David Mumpower |
Powerhouse acting troupe fails to save a grim tale of murky ethics among the clergy. And Viola Davis' character makes some comments that frankly infuriated me. |
The Tony-award winning Broadway play Doubt: A Parable will make the leap to movie theaters as playwright John Patrick Shanley adapts his own work and directs. While we are all just guessing at this point, this film is an early Oscar contender from just the sheer number of previous Academy nominations and awards involved. Let's keep track.
Set in 1964, the play centers on a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman, one win, two nominations) who is accused of abusing a black student. The suspicions are brought up by the senior nun (Meryl Streep, two wins, 14 nominations) and unwittingly supported by a younger nun (Amy Adams, one nomination).
While his most recent work has been produced for the stage, Shanley has also written the screenplay for several other films, including Moonstruck, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1987 (so that would add one win, one nomination). The Miramax release is also being produced by Scott Rudin (one win, two nominations).
So to total it all up, Doubt brings to the table five Academy Awards and 20 nominations, probably the strongest award pedigree of any film being released this fall. While it's slated to be a platforming release, don't say we didn't warn you if Doubt beings to come up for any serious end of the year awards talk. (Tim Briody/BOP)
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