Just perfect...

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The Catholic League for religious and civil rights was so outraged by this film they called for all of their members to boycott it and all other products from Disney. The Catholic Church in Ireland sought to have the film banned and battled with the Irish film censors, who eventually let the film come out with an 18 certificate. It deals directly with the hypocrisies of the Roman Catholic Church head on, from remorselessly casting aside vows to god, upholding the seal of secrecy of the confessional condoning as it does incestuous sexual abuse, denunciation and dismissal of homosexuality and homosexuals. A clear part of the story here in Priest is that according to the catholic church it is OK to sexually abuse your daughter, as long as you say a couple of Hail Mary's afterwards. Sin is awful and bad, unless of course, it is the priest doing it and then, hey it is all right after all.There are some impressive performances at play during Priest, not least Father Greg Pilkington – Linus Roach and his love interest, Graham played by Robert Carlyle. They are compelling to watch as they compassionately confront the situations they they must endure in the story, a real triumph of ability. Tom Wilkinson who plays the old and sinning Father is absolutely wonderful and chilling at the same time, such is the authenticity of his performance. The gritty realism aspect is perhaps not surprising as the screenplay was written by none other than Jimmy McGovern, so you know it's going to have more layers than an onion and just the same amount of bite. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO

This film was widely panned by critics everywhere when it came out, and it doesn't take much to see why. The story is a completely one-sided railing against doctrines of the Catholic Church in order to justify homosexual activities. Don't waste your time with it. "I want to, so I'm gonna" is the entire statement of the movie. Don't expect any real arguments or philosophy here. The acting is passable at best, but given that the screenplay/story is terrible, they didn't have much to work with. What's frustrating is that there's no serious dialog where the clergy get to spell out exactly why sins are sins here along with the harmful after-effects of them. The film seeks immoral justification without proper philosophical/mental evaluation.

Linus Roache plays a young British priest conflicted over his vocation, by the Catholic rules governing him, and by his sexual orientation (he picks up a lad for sex in a gay pub, and we are to assume this isn't his first time at the rodeo). Beginning with a bit of religious anarchy (which is muted, and then forgotten about), this well-meaning melodrama indicates to us that it intends to be shocking and unsettling. Unfortunately, screenwriter Jimmy McGovern is much too interested in being sympathetic to our hero, resulting in a film that seesaws its way through a number of dispiriting episodes. Some of McGovern's dialogue regarding sex, celibacy, homosexuality, and the church is thought-provoking, but his central character is a dullard. Roache, with his round, empty eyes and gray pallor, hasn't an ounce of charisma. The sparkle that was so needed here is provided by Tom Wilkinson in the smaller role of the older, seasoned priest who is in love with his housekeeper. The movie isn't very well edited or directed, though there are some strong scenes as well as plenty of ludicrous ones. ** from ****

Priest was an interesting movie. When I read about it in Down and Dirty Pictures I expected it to be a tasteless assault upon the Christian religion, but to my surprise it wasn't, and not only was it not tasteless it turned out to be a pretty good film. I felt like it treated its subject matter fairly delicately given that it was an independent film and it was a Miramax production. I thought that this was an excellent movie about a priest who is doubting his own profession and the fact that God was even real. Honestly I thought that his relationship with the girl who was being molested by her father was more interesting than the fact that he was gay. At first I even thought that him being gay was overkill and the movie would have been better if it were just about his relationship to the girl, but by the time the ending rolled around I realized that it was necessary for him to be gay for this movie to work. If it were not for that touching scene in which she is the only person to receive the sacraments from him I would say that his being gay was totally inconsequential to the movie. But those very few moments absolutely make this movie. But now that I have discussed the "gay" factor I would like to concentrate on some of the movie's other strong points. This film was truly hilarious. The gay priest's relationship with his fellow straight priest was another high point in the film. Their conversations about, "What does God care about what a man does with his dick?" Were particularly funny and the scene in which the older man they are staying with chaperones them is just hysterical. There are two other scenes that stick out in my mind about this movie. The first being when the molesting father is in the confessional and you only get to see his face, that man was simply terrifying. He seemed to be so evil in that one scene, he really nailed the part. The second scene that I thought was particularly powerful was when the gay priest was praying and telling Jesus that he had it so easy because He knew everything and basically yelling at God for being God—if that makes any sense—God was answering his prayer by exposing the girl's father as a molester. Overall Priest is a superb movie and it is rather unfortunate that some people will avoid this film simply because of its premise.