Keeping the Faith 3 and 1/2 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org April 11, 2000 USA Release Date - April 14, 2000 ---Note: Film sneak previewed on multiple occasions prior to release date--- Tentative date of Mac VerStandig's review on WTPN-Radio: April 14, 2000
---Please note, a copy of this review will be posted to http://www.moviereviews.org/keeping_the_faith.htm on or about April 14, 2000 ---
Keeping the Faith combines all the old `So, there's a Rabbi and a Priest…' jokes, a beautiful romance and some righteously funny scenes to be the most hilarious, insightful and fulfilling comedy in years. So who's to credit? Could it be the hilarious Ben Stiller who comes out of his post There's Something About Mary slump? Perhaps it is the equally funny and sexy Jenna Elfman who is simply radiant on screen. Or maybe it is screenwriter Stuart Blumberg who conceived the equally deep and amusing script. My vote goes to Edward Norton, the actor that has been nominated for two Oscars in just nine films, who not only breaks into the world of comedy here (although he did have a small role in Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You) but makes a brilliant directorial debut as well.
Jake (Ben Stiller), Brian (Edward Norton) and Anna (Jenna Elfman) grew up best friends in New York City. But after the eighth grade, Anna's father accepted a job out west and Jake and Brian found themselves with only each other to finish out their childhoods.
Time has passed. Jake and Brian are still the closest of friends although their professions - Rabbi and Priest respectively - certainly wouldn't indicate so. On the inner-city basketball courts they are known as `God Squad' and in their respective houses of worship they are known as reformers. Together they are trying to build a Catholic/Jewish nightclub complete with karaoke. For Brian this isn't a conflict at all. But Jake's superiors at the synagogue are troubled by his prayer/meditation sessions, improvisation-filled sermons and, most recently, acquiring of a gospel choir to rev up the congregation for Ein Keiloheinu (easily one of the funniest scenes ever to grace the silver screen).
Then, one day, Brian gets a phone call. Soon the two religious leaders are standing at a LaGuardia terminal with a sign reading `Anna Banana.' The girl who once completed the trio is now a successful businesswoman who jokes about her relationship with her cell phone. There are years of catching up to be done in between confessions, Bar-Mitzvah lessons, conference calls and group efforts to help Jake out with his pathetic love life.
To recap, there are three single friends that haven't been together in over a decade. Two of them, a guy and a girl, are single and the third has taken an oath prohibiting him from entering the dating game. You can figure out the rest.
Norton, Stiller and Elfman all deliver great comedic performances. The film opens with Norton playing an exaggerated drunk and this sets the tone for a movie that will crack jokes about serious things. Elfman and Stiller both take on, and succeed at, double-duties, not only trying to be funny but romantic and, occasionally, ultra-serious as well.
You needn't look further than the 11 o'clock news to see religious wars around the world. The Pope has apologized on behalf of Catholics for doing nothing to stop the Holocaust, although you will be hard pressed to find him saying it in such blunt terms. Recently a war was fought in Kosovo over religious issues. Israel and Northern Ireland have grown accustomed to religious warfare. These are sad things that force society to pause in reflection. Some movies, like Life is Beautiful, Train of Life and Jacob the Liar, have tried to make humor out of such tragedy. In this critic's opinion, they have failed. Perhaps that is why Keeping the Faith is so uproariously funny. Sure, the old circumcision, holy water and Jewish-mother jokes make for humorous moments. But the overall comedy derives from the unlikely situation of best friends not only affirming their faith in different religions, but also leading those religions.
So, there's a Rabbi and a Priest… (The punch line can be found at a theatre near you).
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