Premise: Pope
Benedict XVI and the future Pope Francis share a multi-part discussion shortly
before Benedict abdicates his position as Pope.
There's something about putting the word 'Pope' in a
title that makes it funny. The Young Pope with Jude Law became a meme
machine. Even people who liked it started watching it just to say "I'm
watching The Young Pope". This led to the sexy Pope jokes and made
us all ask how young the Pope could be. Now The Two Popes is out. It's
got a couple highly revered actors in the lead roles (Jonathan Pryce, Anthony
Hopkins). It's an awards player. But still, whenever I hear or see people
mention The Two Popes, there's some sort of joke attached. I won't
litigate whether this is the result of a lack of control that religion has over
Americans' lives, the striking clash of religious classicism with modern
society, or simply the fact that making a walk-and-talk movie with two Popes is
just inherently funny. I certainly watched The Two Popes because it's
fun to say "the two Popes".
The movie is fine. I tend to prefer my walk-and-talk
movies with a little more romance to them (see the Before series, Weekend,
Top Five). I'm fascinated by movies and shows that actually try to intellectualize
religion. I don't agree with the source beliefs the characters are dealing
with, but the philosophical discussion is still smart. The performances are
good, although I got a little bored by how often the movie reminds the audience
that at the end of the day, these are pretty mundane old men who need Fitbit
reminders to get their steps in.
Still, nothing's going to beat watching two Popes
watching the World Cup and drinking Fanta together.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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