Critical response On
Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 79% approval rating based on 220 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "
Doubt succeeds on the strength of its top-notch cast, who successfully guide the film through the occasional narrative lull." Another review aggregator,
Metacritic, gave the film a 68/100 approval rating based on 36 reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Critic
Manohla Dargis of
The New York Times concluded that "the air is thick with paranoia in
Doubt, but nowhere as thick, juicy, sustained or sustaining as Meryl Streep's performance." Streep's performance as the stern, intimidating and bold principal Sister Aloysius Beauvier was praised, as were Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams's performances.
The Observers
Philip French wrote, "
Doubt is a provocative, pared-down work that in the theatre carried the subtitle 'A Parable', and it has four outstanding performances. At the centre are two of the finest actors alive, Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Once again, they prove capable of transforming themselves, creating persuasive characters without adopting excessive make-up or a battery of eccentric mannerisms. They're supported by Amy Adams, who has several excellent scenes as Sister James, a young woman of transparent integrity, and by Viola Davis as Mrs Miller, a loving mother attempting to maintain her personal decency under intolerable conditions. Davis makes an indelible impression in her single scene." Viola Davis's performance as Mrs. Miller was praised by critics;
Salon declared that the character was acted with: "a near-miraculous level of believability ... Davis, in her small, one-scene role, is incredibly moving—I can barely remember a Davis performance where I haven't been moved ... [she] plays her character, an anxious, hardworking woman who's just trying to hold her life and family together, by holding everything close. She's not a fountain of emotion, dispensing broad expression or movement; instead, she keeps it all inside and lets us in".
NPR called Davis's acting in the film "the film's most wrenching performance ... the other [actors] argue strenuously and occasionally even eloquently, to ever-diminishing effect; Davis speaks plainly and quietly, and leaves [no] doubt that the moral high ground is a treacherous place to occupy in the real world".
Roger Ebert, who thought Davis's performance worthy of an Academy Award, gave the film four stars, his highest rating, and praised its "exact and merciless writing, powerful performances and timeless relevance. It causes us to start thinking with the first shot", he continued, "and we never stop". The film and the cast earned numerous awards and nominations including five
Academy Award nominations: for
Best Actress for Streep,
Best Supporting Actor for Hoffman,
Best Supporting Actress for both Adams and Davis, and
Best Adapted Screenplay for Shanley. The scholar Daniel Cutrara, in his book on sex and religion in cinema, commented that the film works as a metaphor for worldwide uncertainty over
priests accused of pedophilia—specifically through Father Flynn's resignation as an indication of guilt and then Sister Aloysius's subsequent doubt.
Accolades Doubt received five
Academy Award nominations in 2009, for its four main actors and Shanley's script. It was the fourth film to date—after
My Man Godfrey (
1936),
I Remember Mama (
1948), and
Othello (
1965)—to receive 4 acting noms without being nominated for Best Picture. ==References==