Keeping the Faith Review

by "David N. Butterworth" (dnb AT dca DOT net)
April 17th, 2000
KEEPING THE FAITH
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth

**1/2 (out of ****)

Have you heard the one about the priest, the rabbi, and the prostitute? Of course you have. Well now you can *see* the one about the priest, the rabbi, and the workaholic. It's called "Keeping the Faith" and it's a romantic comedy about this comely threesome, firm friends in the 8th grade who come together one wacky weekend and hooboy don't you know it the two guys wind up falling for the same girl. Edward Norton ("Fight Club") is the priest, Ben Stiller ("Mystery Men") is the rabbi, and Jenna Elfman ("EdTV") is the corporate "plumber" (she talked McDonalds out of the McOyster) and the object of their conflicted affections. Conflicted in the sense that Norton's character shouldn't be feeling this way, being a member of the cloth an' all, and Stiller's character should be dating a Nice Jewish Girl from the Bronx, not some fast-talking west coast blonde who's surgically attached to her cell phone. Stuart Blumberg's script touches on the struggles between serving your god and servicing your woman, but since this is a romantic comedy the emphasis leans more towards big laughs, of which "Keeping the Faith" serves up plenty. The film is perhaps too long, and there's a strange anti-climax when Norton's character professes his love for Elfman's. Nevertheless, it's very watchable, with Stiller typically engaging and Elfman as cute as a button. Norton is underutilized, but that's probably due to the fact that he serves triple duty on this film, as co-producer and director as well as one of the principals--arguably, "Keeping the Faith" was not the best choice for Norton's debut behind the camera since the young up-and-came-already actor fails to impose any kind of unique stamp on the rather deliberate screenplay. What we have here is an extended episode of "Dharma and Ben and Ed" with a religious bent. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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David N. Butterworth
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