The opening sequence is the most original thing in the film: Amorth handles what amounts to an appetizer exorcism by trash-talking evil, playing on its arrogance in order to trick it into defeating itself. The scene is just engaging enough to get聽our hopes up that we've聽been introduced to a rare original聽character with endless franchise potential.聽Think聽James Bond in a turned-around collar, or a theological Det. Columbo whose odd mannerisms and聽disheveled appearance make adversaries assume he's a bumbling eccentric聽when he's actually the smartest person in any given聽room.聽There's even a postscript that makes it seem as if there's an exorcist version of the Avengers Initiative. The producers blew an easy opportunity for applause by not ending the film with a printed title card promising "FATHER AMORTH WILL RETURN."

Unfortunately, 鈥淭he Pope鈥檚 Exorcist鈥澛爄s a watchable聽but far-from-special聽rehash of exorcism movie cliches, with detours into a Vatican conspiracy plot that has been compared to Dan Brown's novels but half-assedly tries to connect with real history. The punchline is so convoluted and ridiculous that it seems intended to聽let聽the Church off the hook for the Inquisition and the pedophilia cover-up by saying, in essence,聽"The devil made them do it."

Crowe makes the movie worth seeing. He plays Amorth as a prideful聽cut-up, greeting vile聽taunts with a deadpan smirk and snappy answers. When the demon growls that he's Amorth's worst nightmare, Amorth replies, "My worst nightmare is France winning the World Cup." Crowe plays the character's dry, needling wit just right. He's even more appealing when聽he lets the audience see聽insecurities that the priest聽keeps hidden. When Father Esquibel tells Amorth that he's read his articles about possession in magazines, Amorth mentions that he writes books, too, then softly adds, "The books are good."聽When Avery cuts to traveling shots of Amorth puttering on highways and country roads on his scooter, the frock, collar, fedora, and sunglasses make the character iconic: coolly ridiculous, ridiculously cool.

One can imagine rewatching bits and pieces聽of the movie just聽to savor Crowe's performance and his co-stars' awed responses to聽it. Crowe has been so good for so long that he glides through this role as if he has nothing to prove (even though the character聽does). He goofs around and adds surprising little聽gestures and reactions聽to enliven a scene. But he聽never goes so far that he seems to be making fun of the movie.聽When Amorth discloses his own spiritual torment in a series of flashbacks, Crowe plays it straight, suffering and writhing as if he's imagining that he's in an Ingmar Bergman movie. He seems to be at roughly the same career point that Paul聽Newman arrived at in the early 1970s when his hair went silver and he lost most of his vanity. He's not suffering for his art anymore. Even when a scene is serious, he's having fun.

Now playing in theaters.聽