It's 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the school's strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the country, and, indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius is galvanized to begin a crusade to both unearth the truth and expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shred of proof or evidence except her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn, a battle that threatens to tear apart the Church and school with devastating consequences.

The thing about Doubt is that it’s a character study kind of film. The movie is all about its characters and takes great effort to delve into all their personas. From Meryl Streep as Sister Aloysius Beauvier who doesn’t need any proof of wrong doing or a shred of evidence to go on a man hunt with such intense fortitude you can’t but help but be a little afraid of her. To Philip Seymour Hoffman who plays a kind but kind of off setting Priest who may just be too overly kind and too close to the boys he is in charge of. And finally to Amy Adams as Sister James who is so naïve and innocent she is the complete opposite of Streep like a black and white contrast. But the problem with this is even though there are all these great characters and performances there is not really a story, just a flimsy excuse of a plot to throw these characters against each other. And sadly this leads to a movie that can be very boring and tiresome at times. You are waiting for the conclusion of did he or did he not do it and the movie bogs down and never really truly delivers.

One of the things that bugged me most about the film was all the dancing around the issues like they were trying to be so politically correct they were afraid to come out and say anything for sure. We know that there was misuse of power by Priests and molestation of young boys. We know that the Church covered it up until it blew up in their face. We know the timeline is right for the movie to have all this happening. Yet despite all this the movie refuses to man up so to speak and just come out and say what they are hinting at. They try and pass off all this politically correct message by letting their actors roam free and hope that is enough to make the movie. It is not and it was not. We don’t need to be coddled in a movie and that’s what the movie does it coddles you and insults your intelligence at times.

A lot of the movie also has to do with Catholic school and a lot of the politics and way things were run during the 1960’s. I never attended Catholic school and what I know of it mostly comes from the movies. But the film has this feeling like you had to be there to truly understand it and if you are like me a lot of that is lost on you as an audience member. Like I am supposed to be saying oh yea I remember what that was like and yea that’s right that’s exactly how it was. I don’t like being left out of the loop a film is supposed to draw me in not alienate me and make me an outsider.

The one thing the movie did have going for it were the great performances by a heck of a cast. Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis all put in masterful performances the kind of performances that you remember and that will get nominated for and win awards. I just wish there was a little more story to go with those performances and that the film did it end up being so dull. It’s a shame to waste all that great acting talent in a movie that coddles you, insults you and leaves you in the dark a lot of the time.

Grade: C-