Review of Broken Vows

In Broken Vows, Tommy Lee Jones plays a shy, diffident Catholic priest who arrives at a crime scene just in time to give the last rites to the victim (David Straitharn). Intrigued by the slain man's last words, Jones sets out to find out more about him and the circumstances leading to his murder. For the first time, he ventures outside of the sheltered and ritualized world of the priesthood in which he has become immured and begins to meet people from all walks of life. In the course of his investigation, Jones meets the slain man's girlfriend, played by Annette O'Toole. The two immediately strike sparks off one another and an awkward, lively and tender relationship develops between the two. In a departure from his usual blustery macho roles, Tommy Lee Jones is in fine form as a young priest whose entire world is shaken as a consequence of a chance encounter with a dying man. The manner of man's death reawakens Jones' intellect and sensuality. For the first time, he questions the dogma that rules his circumscribed life and partakes of the life that exists beyond the doors of his church.