Doubt is not subtle. Despite the fact the film--which features a Catholic priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who (surprise!) may or may not have a boner for altar boys--is about deeds that go unsaid and beliefs that go unproven, it insists on holding your hand, guiding your eye, and, occasionally, smacking you over the head. This is strange, because playwright John Patrick Shanley's play, on which the film is based, favors the opposite tactic: Unsettling and ominous, Shanley's script leaves plenty of room for uncomfortable interpretation. But the film--which Shanley directs with all the nuance of a vaudeville act--seems built mostly for the purpose of begging for Oscars. It also earnestly attempts to reintroduce the oft-parodied gimmick--last seen in the Hammer horror films of the '50s and '60s--of thunder dramatically crashing whenever there's a Very Important Line of Dialogue. by Erik Henriksen