At The Movies: The Exorcism

Russell Crowe plays down-and-out actor Anthony Miller who has been struggling with depression after the death of his wife and took solace in the bottle. After the sudden death of the lead actor, Tony gets a chance to audition for the role of a priest in a horror movie. His sixteen-year old estranged daughter Lee (Ryan Simpkins) thinks it is ironical that her father is trying out for a role as a priest!

Having been suspended from school, she reluctantly accepts the role of his Production Assistant (PA) when Tony gets the role. Under the critical eye of producer Peter (Adam Goldberg), Tony struggles to connect with the role and his own mental demons. Lee makes friends with Blake Holloway (Chloe Bailey) a sixteen-year old singer who is trying to make a career leap into acting.

Lee is worried about Tony’s mental attitude and seeks the counsel of Father Conor (David Hyde Pierce) who is a Jesuit priest and the religious advisor for this movie within a movie. Lee confides the strange things that are happening at home post-shoot and, at one stage, plays a recording she took of Tony’s incoherent ramblings. Father Conor is visibly stunned as the ramblings relate to the demon his character is supposed to exorcise in the movie.

At several stages during this very dark movie, I was struggling to work out what was supposed to be part of the movie shoot, and what was happening to Tony at home after hours! I wish they could make these movies in daylight instead of everything being so dark though.

Before reviewing the movie, and starring Russell Crowe, I thought I had better watch The Pope’s Exorcist, thinking it may have had something to do with the filming of that movie or the impact it had on the actors. However, it has absolutely nothing to do with it so if you are thinking the same way, then don’t bother.

Movie Review by John Glennie

Rating: MA
Runtime: 96 minutes