Have you ever seen a movie with boundless potential only to have it squandered and leave you wanting more?
I have.
Tonight I watched Doubt.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman in an emotional role pitted against a cold-hearted Meryl Streep. The always lovely and charming Amy Adams playing the innocent bystander. A surprisingly fantastic performance from Viola Davis in a role that was far too small. Based on a critically acclaimed play.
All of these would lead me to believe I was in for a solid evening at the cinema.
But mix that solid base of vibrancy with some ugly greys of sub-par cinematography, heavy-handed imagery and metaphors, clumsy directing and pacing problems and you get a muddled mess that does not come close to living up to what it could have been.
Doubt has some terrific performances from all of the leads and most of the secondary actors, but can't get past its own fundamental problems.
I'll give it a C.
--John Berry, Online Editor--