No 'Doubt': Two outstanding actors--the redoubtable Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman--help a weak script. Miramax Films Visit the Photo Place

>> AFTER A WEALTH OF GOOD MOVIES LAST WEEK, MOVIEGOERS ARE BACK TO CAUTION SIGNS BROKEN 'SPIRIT'--ROOM FOR 'DOUBT'

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Date published: 1/8/2009

"DOUBT" (PG-13) HH

STARRING: MERYL STREEP, PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN, AMY ADAMS

RUNNING TIME: 120 minutes

Though this play brought to the big screen has some winning moments, most turned in by Meryl Streep as a strict nun and school principal, it lags at critical times.

Especially at the end, when a strange finish robs power from the film.

The story is straightforward: Two nuns (Streep and Amy Adams) suspect a priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of taking liberties with a young boy, the school's first black student.

Streep's principal is old-school, popping talky boys in the back of the head and opposing secular songs in the school Christmas pageant.

But as we watch this masterful actress create the character, we see it's because she cares so much and feels such responsibility for the children, their education and their success in the big, bad world.

Still, she's quite a handful.

When one of her young, sweet teachers brings to her a suspicion about a priest's strange meeting with a student, it sets things in motion.

It's interesting that Hoffman's character knows how to charm the church leadership, while Streep's takes hits for being old-fashioned.

But there's no doubt that her will and abilities won't let this drop.

Interesting facts turn up as the main three characters are all forced to face up to doubts that run to the heart of their faith.

Rated PG-13 for thematic material. 104 min. [RF]

"THE SPIRIT" (PG-13) H

STARRING: GABRIEL MACHT, EVA MENDES, SAMUEL L. JACKSON, SCARLETT JOHANSSON, SARAH PAULSON

RUNNING TIME: 167 MIN.

Sarah Paulson is radiant and Eva Mendes is a fun, sexy vamp in this graphic novel come to the big screen.

But director and writer Frank Miller, and stars Gabriel Macht, Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson, take major career hits for appearing in the worst film in recent memory.

While it tries to be a campy comic-book saga, Macht is at the heart of the problem because he is just horrible as the dead yet invulnerable figure known as "The Spirit."

The film shoots for funny but misses; tries to be visually stunning but strikes out there, too; and there's never anything worth watching here.

Except for Paulson and Mendes, who leave with their respect intact.

Not so for Johansson, whose lightweight talent falls flat as she tries to play the bad-girl assistant of "The Octopus."

He's played by Jackson, who has the unfortunate need to wear a Nazi uniform in one scene and wield a toilet as a weapon in another.

It's the first film in a while where a large portion of the folks at the screening I saw left before the credits rolled.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of stylized violence and action, some sexual content and brief nudity. 103 min. [RF, RA, M]

H Don't waste your time. HH Nothing special HHH You'll be sorry if you miss it. HHHH A must-see

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Date published: 1/8/2009

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