THE POPE'S EXORCIST

I can watch Russell Crowe in pretty much anything, even a film as unappealing to me as this variation on 'The Exorcist'.

Crowe plays a real Catholic priest, Father Amorth, who claimed to have performed tens of thousands of exorcisms, which is plainly absurd and ridiculous.  I've no idea whether he was anything like Crowe's portrayal which manages to give him both gravitas and quirkiness.  

The latter quality is signposted by him getting around on a red-and-white motor scooter.  He even uses it to travel between Rome and Castile in Spain, a distance of over a thousand miles;  no wonder he needs a shot of whisky when he arrives.

Why is he in Castile?  Well, because there's a ruined abbey here where a young American boy Henry is showing signs of demonic possession.  This is after Henry has not said a word for a year, since his father died in a car accident where Henry was present.  Father left the abbey to Henry's mum Julia, and now they, together with bored teenage daughter Amy, have come here to oversee a restoration of the abbey.  

OK, sure, it's not the most plausible setup but Crowe was able to keep me engaged (despite his dodgy Italian accent), helped by the possibility that the plot might be going somewhere interesting.  Would the car accident a year ago prove not to be an accident?  Why is the Pope so interested in the abbey?  

Then there's the question of Amorth's own personal demons which might be a fatal source of weakness.  In particular he is suffering guilt for once failing to stop a mentally ill young woman from committing suicide, feeling it was rather beneath him.

The only other character of note is a young local priest, Father Esquibel, who's out of his depth when it comes to all this exorcism malarkey. . 

Anyway, the story builds to a passably interesting climax whereby Amorth allows the demon (who goes by the name of Asmodeus) to possess him, thereby saving Henry.  It's then the turn of Esquibel to rise to the occasion (somewhat implausibly to my mind) and help Amorth drive out and defeat Asmodeus.  

Although the film looks good and is competently directed, my feeling at the end was one of disappointment.  The story didn't fulfil its early promise, and the characters of Julia and Amy in particular are paper-thin.  I'm not sure that Crowe's performance, good though it is, is enough to compensate for these deficiencies.

RATING: x Curb Your Enthusiasm