Product: Keeping the Faith (2000)
Rating: 5.0
Fun, Thoughtful, Romantic - Great movie!
This was not your typical romantic comedy by any stretch. A priest, a rabbi, and a business woman sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it actually is the scenario for a wonderful film that explores faith, friendship, love, tradition, and conviction.The basic premise of the film are three friends: a priest Brian (Norton), his best friend a rabbi, Jake (Ben Stiller) who both fall in love with a childhood friend Anna (Jenna Elfman). The story uses each of these characters to explore various issues. Anna is presented as the workaholic person driven by the need to succeed. She says when we first meet her, "I work harder than God. If God had hired me, the world would have been finished by Thursday." Jake is pressured by his Jewish community to find a nice Jewish girl to settle down with. Brian is a devote Catholic whose vow of celibacy is tempted by his love for Anna. Brian and Jakes friendship is tested over their mutual love for the same girl.While sounding like a complex plot, Norton (who debuts as a director with this film) does an amazing job of telling a story, exploring these issues, making you laugh, and adding a good solid love story to boot.I was struck by how this film is very representative of an entire generation. It's sort of a romantic Friends episode dealing with the complications that arise when faith conflicts with love and tradition. I think it speaks to a lot of young people who have grown up in various traditions and are then confronted with difficult decisions (and often associated guilt) as they wrestle with how to balance their lives.What is really important in life? What is the difference between faith and tradition? How do I move from success to significance? Is love more important than a career? What does friendship look like?These are the questions that the film strives to raise for the viewer. Perhaps the line that best summaries this thread through the film is given by Jake towards the end of the film, in which he says: "We live in a really complex world. A world in which boundaries and definitions are blurring and bleeding into each other in ways that challenge us not just as Jews, but as human beings."The movie is a success based on the likeability of the characters alone. Norton does an amazing job of building the characters and the depth of their relationships very quickly. One scene in particular, at a diner where Brian imitates "Rainman," does a phenomenal job of showing the friendship and chemistry between these three people. This is perhaps Elfman's strongest performance yet on film. She does a great job of portraying the driven business type but with enough charm and sophistication to still keep your interest and affection. Norton and Stiller pull off great performances that give you the sense that they have been life-long friends. You don't come to just know the characters, you come to genuinely like them.Throughout the movie there a numerous laughs and moments that are too funny. I saw this on DVD and the gag scenes and deleted scenes are not to be missed. I'm surprised they kept some of the deleted scenes out of the movie as I think it could have helped build the characters even further.All in all, a great movie - one that caught me by surprise. A great date movie and one that any Gen X person in their 20s or 30s should see.