Doubt

Aroview: Playwright John Patrick Shanley adapts for the screen his Pulitzer Prize-winner about a nun's suspicion of sexual abuse in a Catholic school, jettisoned by the heavyweight acting collision of Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

While never quite breaking the shackles of its formidable stageplay roots (and therefore, failing to wholly reinvent itself as a film), this delivers a meaty, combative script and two raging (if overacted) lead performances. Leaving more of a lasting impression in their supporting roles, Amy Adams and Viola Davis temper the theatrics of their Oscar-baiting peers, fleshing out the story’s thought-provoking themes of faith, judgment and moral uncertainty.

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