Given all the revelations of sex abuse in the Catholic Church, Mass Appeal in its
own way is as dated as Going My Way in its picture of the Catholic Church and its
inner workings. Still the relationship of Jack Lemmon and Zeljko Ivanek isn't
exactly Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald.
Playwright Bill C. Davis was hired to expand for the screen his two person play which 212 performances on Broadway in the 1981-82 season. It would hardly do to fill 100+ minutes of screen time with two priests just talking. Still the main focus is on popular parish priest Jack Lemmon and Zeljko Ivanek who is quite the oddball rebel at the seminary.
The monsignor in charge of the seminary Charles Durning wants Lemmon to take this kid in hand and explain the facts of life to him otherwise his ambition to be a priest will never be fulfilled. But as these two go back and forth one starts to wonder who is changing who.
On stage it worked to have the forces of repression as Ivanek sees them just be in the abstract. But for the screen Durning's role is critical in that the audience has to have the forces of oppression be personalized. Otherwise it would not have worked.
What the issues are I won't reveal, but as I said the sex abuse scandals have really dated Mass Appeal. Still it's a fine film with great performances from Lemmon, Ivanek, and Durning.
Playwright Bill C. Davis was hired to expand for the screen his two person play which 212 performances on Broadway in the 1981-82 season. It would hardly do to fill 100+ minutes of screen time with two priests just talking. Still the main focus is on popular parish priest Jack Lemmon and Zeljko Ivanek who is quite the oddball rebel at the seminary.
The monsignor in charge of the seminary Charles Durning wants Lemmon to take this kid in hand and explain the facts of life to him otherwise his ambition to be a priest will never be fulfilled. But as these two go back and forth one starts to wonder who is changing who.
On stage it worked to have the forces of repression as Ivanek sees them just be in the abstract. But for the screen Durning's role is critical in that the audience has to have the forces of oppression be personalized. Otherwise it would not have worked.
What the issues are I won't reveal, but as I said the sex abuse scandals have really dated Mass Appeal. Still it's a fine film with great performances from Lemmon, Ivanek, and Durning.