Bad movie versions of good PLAYS (not musicals) — Page 2

I don't think the movie version of Doubt was horrible, but I do think that PSH and Meryl were miscast.

I also think that John Patrick Shanley was a bit heavy handed with the directing. For example, after Meryl talks to the mother, she is standing outside and a gust of leaves blows up against her. It's as if Shanley is indicating: Warning, a storm is brewing.

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Streetcar starring Jessica Lange, Alec Baldwin, Diane Lane and John Goodman was quite fabulous I thought. It was a TV movie.

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John Patrick Shanley should have never directed the film version of DOUBT. I liked it when I first saw it but have liked it less and less the more I've seen it. It's poorly directed and casting Philip Seymour Hoffman as Father Flynn was an enormous mistake. It's a great showcase for acting though. I love all the women, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, and Amy Adams are all divine in their roles, if only someone like Matt Damon or Ethan Hawke or Josh Brolin had been cast as the Father...
Would have loved to see a Mike Nichols-directed DOUBT, he did a fantastic job with CLOSER which is a wonderful film based on another four-character play, all actors do a brilliant job in that one.

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It may be my favorite Meryl Streep performance.

Really? I thought it was good and definitely should have won over Kate Winslet's misguided and bait-y performance in THE READER, but it definitely can't compare to Streep's early transformative performances in SOPHIE'S CHOICE, THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMAN, THE DEER HUNTER, and KRAMER V. KRAMER. Unfortunately, I think Streep suffers from a lack of director who is able to really channel her strengths, sometimes she gets way too hammy--especially at the beginning of the film, she gets a lot better after the first confrontation scene in her office. I believe Streep said she and Shanley had some issues since he apparently was very specific in how he wanted her to act. I feel the DOUBT movie is good but it could have been great, brilliant even had it found the right director and the right actor to play Father Flynn. That's the shame in it.

And I have to say, I can't find much value in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. I love the actors in it but I don't think they can rise above a screenplay that takes everything that matters from the play and hides it all under a rug, pretending it was never there. Ugh, can't stand this movie. Love the original STREETCAR, speaking of Meryl Streep, I really wish the big screen re-make planned with her as Blanche in the 80s had come to fruition (instead it was made into a TV movie with Ann-Margret).

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Updated On: 3/18/10 at 04:28 AM

The direction of Doubt was horrendous. How else could you explain the awful, over the top performances of Streep, PSH, and Adams, three of the most consistent actors working in film today?

Proof was extremely mediocre.

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As I've said in other places, PSH and Meryl were miscast.

I agree completely. I felt the casting of them both completely destroyed the ambiguity of the story. We all know we're supposed to side with the nun because it's MERYL and Hoffman's appearance only reinforced the direction in which the audience has been pushed. I didn't think the movie was bad, but I felt its direction worked against its screenplay rather than enhancing it.

I never saw Proof on stage and I don't remember a thing about the film. I did like the TV adaptation of Copenhagen, however.

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