Grade: C (6 stars) I have mixed feelings about this movie. One one hand, it's well acted, relatively well written and directed, and overall it's entertaining. On the other hand, I rolled my eyes about a dozen times because the movie failed to convince me that Emily Rose was anything but a psychotic schizophrenic country girl whose condition could only be interpreted as spiritual by the Roman Catholic Church.
No offense to Catholicism in general (especially to my Catholic and Christian friends), but I often find that events involving God or the devil on Earth are never looked upon rationally by Catholic religious leaders. That being said, I found it strange that Father Moore was tried for negligent homicide and not Emily's parents. Father Moore's intentions seemed to be noble even if he was mistaken. Emily's parents were the ones who didn't just take her to the hospital to be cared for. They agreed to cease her being fed. They watched their daughter deteriorate in their own home and they did nothing about it except entrust her care to a priest whose only real solution was to attempt an exorcism which then failed.
As you can tell, I had somewhat of a bias towards this subject going into the film. I'm not saying that I do not believe in demonic possession, but I think with our knowledge of psychological disorders these days it is very hard to justify such a claim. There are a million and one question marks surrounding the validity of a demonic possession claim such as Emily Rose's. Let's apply Ockham's Razor (in a nutshell: when faced with two equally valid alternatives, choose the simpler) to her situation as presented in the movie. The evil all powerful devil decided to possess a basically useless 19 year old country bumpkin, or she was schizophrenic? The Virgin Mary (don't even get me started on that one either) visited this girl and gave her a choice to go to heaven or stay on Earth so people would believe in the spiritual realm, or, again, poor Emily was hallucinating due to her deteriorating psychological condition? Movies like this usually have trouble balancing science and faith. Emily Rose is heavy on the relevant scientific testimony in the courtroom, but easy on the spiritual testimony. The movie clearly wants us to believe Emily's story, but all the spiritual elements are treated very lightly. Dr. Adani, a defense witness who was supposed to create a relevant link between the scientific and spiritual worlds, gives a ridiculous and over the top testimony that would have been appropriate for a stoner hippie in some low brow comedy.
In the end, I did say that this movie is entertaining. It's a little long, and some of the scenes should have been cut shorter, but the flow and structure are tight. We always know where the movie is leading us. Emily Rose is predictable, but it knows where it wants to go, which, these days, is very refreshing. Laura Linney fills her shoes well as the confident attorney (though she seems to be the same person in every movie she is in) and Tom Wilkinson is the rock of the movie. It made more sense to me for Father Moore to be the main character because he had a stronger tie to Emily, and he had a more believable character arc as well.
In the end, I'd say if you have to see it, at least wait for DVD. After all, an evening show movie ticket costs about $10 these days. Factor in the gas money and the quality of a movie (especially for a "dinner and a movie" date) is increasingly important.
No offense to Catholicism in general (especially to my Catholic and Christian friends), but I often find that events involving God or the devil on Earth are never looked upon rationally by Catholic religious leaders. That being said, I found it strange that Father Moore was tried for negligent homicide and not Emily's parents. Father Moore's intentions seemed to be noble even if he was mistaken. Emily's parents were the ones who didn't just take her to the hospital to be cared for. They agreed to cease her being fed. They watched their daughter deteriorate in their own home and they did nothing about it except entrust her care to a priest whose only real solution was to attempt an exorcism which then failed.
As you can tell, I had somewhat of a bias towards this subject going into the film. I'm not saying that I do not believe in demonic possession, but I think with our knowledge of psychological disorders these days it is very hard to justify such a claim. There are a million and one question marks surrounding the validity of a demonic possession claim such as Emily Rose's. Let's apply Ockham's Razor (in a nutshell: when faced with two equally valid alternatives, choose the simpler) to her situation as presented in the movie. The evil all powerful devil decided to possess a basically useless 19 year old country bumpkin, or she was schizophrenic? The Virgin Mary (don't even get me started on that one either) visited this girl and gave her a choice to go to heaven or stay on Earth so people would believe in the spiritual realm, or, again, poor Emily was hallucinating due to her deteriorating psychological condition? Movies like this usually have trouble balancing science and faith. Emily Rose is heavy on the relevant scientific testimony in the courtroom, but easy on the spiritual testimony. The movie clearly wants us to believe Emily's story, but all the spiritual elements are treated very lightly. Dr. Adani, a defense witness who was supposed to create a relevant link between the scientific and spiritual worlds, gives a ridiculous and over the top testimony that would have been appropriate for a stoner hippie in some low brow comedy.
In the end, I did say that this movie is entertaining. It's a little long, and some of the scenes should have been cut shorter, but the flow and structure are tight. We always know where the movie is leading us. Emily Rose is predictable, but it knows where it wants to go, which, these days, is very refreshing. Laura Linney fills her shoes well as the confident attorney (though she seems to be the same person in every movie she is in) and Tom Wilkinson is the rock of the movie. It made more sense to me for Father Moore to be the main character because he had a stronger tie to Emily, and he had a more believable character arc as well.
In the end, I'd say if you have to see it, at least wait for DVD. After all, an evening show movie ticket costs about $10 these days. Factor in the gas money and the quality of a movie (especially for a "dinner and a movie" date) is increasingly important.