Product: Keeping the Faith (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Good Romantic Comedy
Keeping The Faith (2000) is a light, entertaining and contemporary romantic comedy. The setup sounds very corny but it works. Jacob, played by Ben Stiller is Jewish. Brian, played by Edward Nortan, is Irish Catholic, and Anna, played by Jenna Elfman, is an Irish Catholic girl. All three were best friends growing up in Brooklyn. In the eighth grade, Anna's family moves to California. Remaining best friends, Jacob grows up to become a rabbi, Brian a priest. When they are in their thirties, Ruth contacts Brian to tell him she is coming to New York for a few weeks. Jacob and Brian have not seen or spoken to Anna in twenty years. She is now a high-powered businesswoman. Jacob and Brian meet her at the airport together.The actress Jennie Elfman's looks are quite captivating. She is very tall, taller than both guys, very thin and very blonde. Both men's passions ignite and burn wild. The rest of the movie is a love triangle made interesting because of all the things that priests and rabbis are not supposed to do.I liked the scenes involving the synagogue congregation. It's not something that one sees in many movies. I felt that the image of the priest as sexually emasculated was very sad. A fair attempt is made at balancing it, but it fails. Other actors you may recognize in the film are Ann Bancroft who plays Jacob's mother and Ron Rifkin who plays a senior rabbi. Milos Forman who plays Brian's pastor has a good scene near the end, counseling Brian.