Product: Keeping the Faith (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Not only can Norton act but direct!
After seeing the trailer for Keeping the Faith I planned to run away from ever seeing it. The trailer was packed with silly physical comedy pratfalls and nonsense - not the kind of film to see and certainly not the kind in which one would expect to find an actor like Edward Norton starring, let alone directing. But pushed by trusted friends who assured me of the film's quality, I broke down and saw Keeping the Faith. It turned out to be a bright spot in a dreary 2000 moviegoing year.Norton's film follows the simple comedic/romantic comedy scenario that three childhood friends (Norton, Stiller and Elfman) are reuniting after more than a decade apart. Of course the twist is that the boys have become a priest and a rabbi (sounds like a bad joke) and the girl became a powerful business consultant - some would say pretty, but this is Elfman generally more coltish than pretty. The three are reunited and both men find themselves attracted to Elfman (God only knows why), for Stiller it's a problem because she's not Jewish and he fears upsetting his mother and the synagogue. Norton on the other hand has to confront his vows. Naturally, as one would expect from such a movie, everything works out, people laugh, cry and it all ends wonderfully.Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff, but Norton does give it an edge. Either Norton or the scriptwriter have infused a tremendous amount of personality into the priest and rabbi characters. Of course with two talents such as Norton and Stiller it sould not be surprising these two will deliver good performances. The pratfall scenes from the trailer weigh-down the first few minutes of the film but after that, the film exhibits what good dialogue and talented actors can do. Good comedic bits and many, many sly cultural references from Tony Robbins to Rainman find their way into the film. Even Elfman is semi-interesting and almost attractive in her blah role as the love interest. At the end too, Norton's movie has actually made the audience care and suffer with the two male leads, even if we know how it will end. Good job. Hopefully next time he'll make something with a bit more punch though.