Meryl Streep acts up a storm in Doubt, and the movie acts up right along with her. The picture, adapted by writer-director John Patrick Shanley from his play, centers on a 1960s Bronx parish seething with distrust. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), the iron-fisted principal of the parish’s school, finds herself at odds with Father Flynn (an excellent Philip Seymour Hoffman), a younger, more open-minded priest who has a kinder approach to the children. Before long, Sister Aloysius wonders if that kindness has crossed over into sexual abuse. Shanley works overtime to convince us of the story’s cinematic possibilities. The wind violently blows as Sister Aloysius’ suspicions grow. The camera is held at skewed angles when Father Flynn faces accusation. During one extended scene in Sister Aloysius’ office, there is a lot of fussy business over the window shades, which flood the room with interrogating light. Such intrusions are distracting, which may be why Streep goes big – she’s competing, in a sense, with the director.
