Product: Keeping the Faith (2000)
Rating: 5.0
What a great take on religion . . .
Critics, schmitics---what I love about KEEPING THE FAITH is it's take on ecumenism and the sparkle of the characters/actors. Perhaps all romantic comedies are, after all, mawkish, since the pattern has been around for centuries. However, most of us do like seeing our favorites in the genre, as well as seeing the latest take on same.Here Edward Norton's character is a priest and Jenna Elfman's is a high-powered executive just back in New York after having been away from the boys for at least a decade. Of course, Ben Stiller's character is a rabbi, to round out the threesome---"Two Micks and a Yid." The stage is set by Norton's character who is blitzed and telling his troubles to a sympathetic bartender, a Punjabi Catholic with Jewish in-laws. (Norton also directs for the first time here and the tone of the whole movie is lively and positive---the characters' comedic timing is excellent.) The plot thickens as we learn that Norton has made a romantic declaration and his suit was less than successful. The whole celibacy thing doesn't lessen his sense of betrayal; then we learn why.Having set themselves up to play out the usual jokes about the differences between priests and rabbis, Norton, Elfman, and Stiller have a really good time with the dialog, the scenarios, and working with such stellars as Anne Bancroft, Eli Wallach, and Milos Froman.This movie is a lot of fun, people, so enjoy!