A Shadow of a 'Doubt'

The first review is in.

Todd McCarthy at Variety has reviewed the movie and things are not quiet as expected they would be (athough the trailer did lay some Doubts with me.)

Firstly we now know Viola Davis is most likely on her way to a nomination. He says of her performance:

"...and Davis’ performance is devastatingly great as a troubled mother forced to voice her own uncomfortable views about her lonely, ostracized son. The scene as a whole constitutes a 12-minute emotional demolition job."

He is then less ecstatic about Hoffman:

"Hoffman’s performance is ambiguous enough to make the viewer continue to wonder about Father Flynn and, crucially, to fear Sister Aloysius might actually be right. Thesp is particularly effective in his sermons, delivering his thoughtful remarks with a clarity and intellectual pertinence that many pastors might envy."

He says about Amy Adams, what everyone who has seen the play has said, that the character is not a real winner when it comes to awards season accolades:

"Adams does all anyone could with the role of a nice young nun who must cope with the monster she unintentionally lets out of the box."

Now when I saw the trailer I was a little taken aback with Streeps performance. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be so comical but figured it was edited that way in the trailer to get the punters in. McCarthy goes on to basically let me know my initial thoughts were correct:

"The film’s one iffy element, oddly enough, is Streep. This master screen actor, who applies a slight New Yawk accent to her phrasings, takes the vocal low road here as opposed to the more forceful approach of Cherry Jones in her riveting Broadway turn. By ostensibly underplaying the role’s villainy, however, Streep overdoes the melodrama, thereby turning Sister Aloysius into more of a stock figure than she ultimately seemed onstage. Every little tic, gesture and facial mannerism seems maximized by the effort expended to minimalize them, to diminished returns in the cause of creating a three-dimensional character. While the dramatic scenes still register with notable force, it’s a disconcerting, unsatisfying performance from a thesp who most of the time rings true."

Can she still get the nomination?