Translating a play into a motion picture is much like being an unprotected-sex-seeking whore: It's risky business. "Doubt" knows. After premiering off-Broadway in 2004 – and winning lady-loving Cherry Jones, who played Sister Aloysius, a Tony Award – playwright John Patrick Shanley brought the fist-clenching did-he-do-it? doozy to a broader audience.
"Doubt," on DVD April 7, is drama at its finest, a snowballing suspense that plays you like a stripper – and then leaves you hanging during the finish. The cast helps a helluva lot, too. Meryl Streep as hard-edged Sister Aloysius is obviously divine, transforming a could-be caricature into a complex woman dead-set driven on proving a truth that she's not even sure she believes. Father Flynn – played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who's a bit too soft for the role – is her target, a man with a pretty comfortable relationship with a likely queer schoolboy. But how comfortable? Buddy comfortable? Gay comfortable?
We rarely get answers, but under the trance of such a riveting cast (four Oscar nods in acting categories, folks!), who cares. And even the supporting players are able to hold their own against leads Streep and Hoffman – sometimes in just a 10-minute scene.
Viola Davis, who gives an unnervingly runny-nose and misty-eyed performance as the maybe-molested boy's mother, is that actress. Her scene with Streep is the emotional centerpiece, and Davis electrifies our arm-hairs in it. Amy Adams, one of the finest young currently-at-work actresses, might as well be Giselle, the naive princess she didn't just play – but was – in "Enchanted." As Sister James she's equally simple-minded, even a pushover – she's probably the only nun at this Bronx Catholic school who doesn't use her ruler for more than measuring – but her transformation into practicality is wholly believable. Even heartbreaking at times.
The heralded Adams/Streep final scene, which throws our whole world into whack with just a couple of lines from Sister Aloysius, only exacerbates the doubt we already had.
True to its name, there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding the going-ons in this church in 1964, escalating as small – but never concrete – clues crop up: Was that father-schoolboy hug just out of compassion? Does Sister Aloysius really hate him because he embraces her archenemy – the ballpoint pen? The whole film is a puzzle missing pieces that leaves you out in the cold. And the wind. There are a lot of umbrella-breaking gusts. Too many.
But even if the symbolism feels like a trail of Post-it notes with the same memo, getting with "Doubt" is wise, and then – no doubt – you'll want to scoot on over to the extras. Entertainment Weekly hosts a chit-chat with the main players – Streep, Hoffman, Adams and Davis (one funny lady!) – in an intimate Q-and-A session where we find out behind-the-scenes bits (who else thinks, after watching this, they all golf together?).
There's a Shanley commentary, a short score feature, an insightful film transition piece ("Doubt: From Stage to Screen"). But way cool are the nuns on "The Sisters of Charity" who talk about the habit's history, reminiscence on the good ol' days and discuss hip-izing the church. Not quite in the Whoopi way. B+
'Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection'
The quick demise of Showtime's "Dead Like Me" – which ran for a mere two seasons – left many mourning. Resurrected on DVD are all 29 episodes of the show, which followed a gaggle of grim reapers assigned to take people's lives, that made death a whole lot funnier than it is. Extras are recycled from past season sets, but this one includes the bleak feature film that tries – and fails – to wrap up the abruptly axed dramedy. The moralistic dark comedic series, created by Bryan Fuller (responsible for the canceled "Pushing Daisies" – can't this guy get a break?) and cast perfectly – was mostly stellar, with a moving episode involving a gay couple. What's gayer than that? Eric McCormack – Will! – popping in for the second season.
'Fun in Girls' Shorts 2'
The second installment of lesbian shorts has it all: severed toes, silly soap operas, sweet-and-simple and a documentary that might work better than most sleeping pills. "The Vicious and the Delicious," a campy scandal-filled film involving a ridiculous esophagus transplant, and "Operated by Invisible Hands," about two antique dolls' on-fire passion, shouldn't go un-viewed. (April 7)
'Role Models'
Before he loved a man – in a sex-less way – everyone's film BFF Paul Rudd was a hot pseudo-dad. Paired with Seann William Scott, the two are an ace comedic duo forced to do community service at a mentor program, where out-actress Jane Lynch assigns two kids – one a whack-job, the other a ghetto-talker – to the guys. Slightly for-nerds-only near the end, the buddy film maintains its mojo through wit, Rudd and booby-talk. Scott's tight little butt helps, too.
