Beauty vs Beast: No Doubt
Monday, August 20, 2018 at 2:00PM Jason from MNPP here ready to label this place "The Amy Adams Experience" for the day, because not only are we discussing the latest episodes of Sharp Objects but we're wishing her a happy 44th birthday while we're at it with this week's edition of "Beauty vs Beast." Specifically we're looking back at her Oscar-nominated role as the watchful Sister James opposite her Oscar-nominated co-star some-Meryl-lady in John Patrick Shanley's 2008 film Doubt. Can you believe this movie's turning 10 in December? It doesn't seem that long ago, does it? Does the movie hold up, you think? (I mean besides Viola Davis, obviously.) But even besides that I need you to, heaven forbid, brush away your doubts long enough to come down with a vote on...
PREVIOUSLY My favorite Fassbinder was the subject of last week's poll and my favorite Fassbinder performance therein won - Margit Carstensen's TITULAR ROLE in The Bitter Tears of Perta von Kant sashayed off with about 3/4s of the vote over Hanna Schygulla's user-loser Karin. Said Jordan:
"Just caught this film for the first time recently thanks to a mention about it on this site and had one of those WHERE HAS THIS MOVIE BEEN ALL MY LIFE??!! moments. Stunning across the board. What Fassbinder, Ballhaus, and these women accomplished in a single room is really movie magic."
Reader Comments (25)
There are many MANY things wrong with this movie but Amy Adams is the best part of it. She keeps the movie going.
I wish I could vote for PSH. Streep was deliciously evil, but she was so evil that she made Father Flynn look innocent. To make things worse, PSH was incredibly charismatic in it.
Honestly, I'd vote for Mrs. Miller over everyone else, but here I'm certainly going with Sister James over the dreadful, nasty Sister Aloysius.
Also happy 35th birthday to Andrew Garfield.
"I...have...doubt."
I always thought that casting someone like Edward Norton would've improved the movie (which I thought, some heavy-handiness aside, was pretty solid overall). Hoffman is good in the role, but all that confidence and charisma made me think OF COURSE he did it. He just "looked" guilty. I always thought Norton would've brought a bit more ambiguity to the role.
What Hoffman's performance does do is help Streep's unwavering belief in his guilt. You totally get why this is one of her nominated performances, it checks off all those technical boxes, but there's really nothing surprising here. I thought Adams was fine, but nothing beyond that. Then again, does any of it matter once Viola Davis shows up, establishes her family's heartbreaking stakes, and commits grand theft movie all in under 10 minutes!? If nothing else Doubt should be appreciated as a rare moment where Streep seems knocked out by someone else's performance.
I remember back in '08 telling a friend we were going to see Doubt and w/o missing a beat she said, "I'm skeptical."
I'm team Sister Aloysius. I know she's a bitch, but we all know she's right, right?
The Catholic Church (and everyone else, too) would be a lot better off with more Sister Aloysioses.
I support both of them, and this movie. I will not choose.
Amy gets my vote Streep is simply doing too many things and doing them wrongly.
Im loving the amy adams experience today! Team sister james, she just wanted to do good, and be good, but unwantedly caused this tornado. I still really like the movie, I've watched it multiple times just for the top notch acting by the whole cast. They all deserved their nominations.
I will forever be an apologist for Meryl in Doubt. She's dynamite in it, and much funnier than you'd expect given the subject.
Plus, if Meryl had won her third Oscar here, Viola would have hers for The Help and would not have needed to fraud her Fences performance into supporting, making her the first African American woman with two Best Actress nominations ever.
So to say, Kate Winslet in the Reader truly is the root of all Oscar evil, indeed.
I am ok with Winslet winning. The best performance of that year didn't hafe a shot in hell: Juliette Binoche in The Flight of the Red Balloon.
Hmmm. Amy Adams, Meryl Streep. I kneel before the altar of Ms. Adams, she has been good in so many different roles and she NEEDS HER OSCAR. Currently delirious watching her in Sharp Objects. Sad to say, Streep as Sr. Aloyisuis reminds me of all the reasons I quit being a Catholic. And I agree with a previous poster, if Streep had gotten her Oscar here, Viola could have had hers for The Help.
Most people wish Winslet would've won for Rev Rd but i'm with Hathaway and Hawkins in 2008,never can decide between those 2.
Streep should have won the following year for J&J. Winslet should have won for RR in 2008 and Viola should have won in 2011 for The Help.
I have rewatched this movie several times and it holds up beautifully.
@Carmen We can trace the blame back to Hillary Swank for beating her in 2004. Though Winslet seemed pretty unstoppable that year, I have a feeling she would've won one even if she already had a trophy in her mantle.
Gotta with Sister Aloysius. Streep can sometimes be too much (ahem August) but she's deliciously perfect and wild and unhinged here without ever actually feeling uncontrolled. She devours the screen, in a wonderful way. Hoffman and Adams are erased by her, and only Viola manages to go toe to toe.
@AlexD - I agree that Clementine is the performance she deserved her Oscar the most, but Winslet had a snowball's chance in hell in 2004. The narrative was all Swank x Bening redux, with Staunton as a spoiler. She was fourth at best that year, and in a movie that underperformed tremendously. Fast forward 14 years and Eternal Sunshine has aged much better than either Million Dollar Baby or The Aviator, the two big Oscar juggernauts of the season.
Also agree with everybody who said she deserved one for Revolutionary Road. She's terrific in that.
Now, Winslet/Reader x Meryl/Doubt, I'll have Meryl any day.
I consider Kate Winslet in The Reader brilliant and I'm confident that, with the passage of time, her performance, and the film, will be appreciated more.
Despite some heavy handedness ("The winds are crazy this year!") I love this film, and all the principals are great - Viola Davis is practically the definitive one-scene wonder, more than holding her own against Meryl. Sister James is adorable... but I had to vote for Sister Aloysius because she's such a barely contained force.
Mrs. Miller. Everyone else is insufferable.
They're both insufferable. Team Poppy in Happy-Go-Lucky.
It's one of those rare Moments in where I do love the film more than Meryl's Performance. I don't get the praise, but I don't get the hate for it either. I thought she was fine. I just LOVE her in MM! though, if I had to choose for what 2008-performance I'd vote for.
But oh my, her reaction when winning the SAG for Doubt was suuuuuuuper adorable and funny!!!
Anyway, my MVP of Doubt is actually Amy Adams. Sister James seems such a naive character, but I think there's more. And no, I wasn't impressed with Viola at all, sorry.
I don't mind Kate Winslet Winning for The Reader. Remember that joke she made About Holocaust movies Winning Oscars on the series "Extra"? So priceless! *lol*