Keeping the Faith (2000) Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5.0 stars
It's always seemed to me that Edward Norton chooses his projects very carefully since storming into the acting scene in 1996 with his Oscar nominated performance in Primal Fear. With every film after that (Everyone Says I Love You, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Rounders, American History X, and Fight Club) he's come away with a major award nomination or win of some kind. All of those films have had something about them that stood out... something that made them unique. So I'm perplexed as to why Norton would chose Keeping the Faith, a predictable romantic comedy for the masses, as not only his next acting project but also his first film as a director.
Norton and Ben Stiller play a priest and a rabbi respectively, and the two were best friends growing up. They were also childhood friends with Anna (Jenna Elfman). When Anna comes to New York on business she reunites with her two friends, who both are now obviously very attracted to her. What to do?
As I sat and watched Keeping the Faith I was reminded constantly of Nora Ephron's mediocre body of work and was surprised this was not a film written or directed by her (although by film's end I understood why, as Ephron is given "Special Thanks" during the film's closing credits). Most of the jokes in the film are clearly enhanced by the talents of the people performing them, but there are several clichéd moments that even the greatest comedic actors couldn't elevate past their "seen that already" status. Many moments in the first 30 minutes of the film basically just involve Edward Norton falling down. Also, later in the film comes a scene seemingly inspired by Sister Act... a movie I do not want to ever think about again.
As I said, there are some funny moments in the film (some of which are downright inspired), but there needed to be some major trimming done in the editing room. A romantic comedy does not need to run over two hours unless there's some sort of amazing, twisty plot going on that needs as much time as possible to completely play out. "Priest wants girl but can't have her because of his chosen profession and rabbi gets girl but can't keep her for fear of alienating his congregation" isn't an epic tale by any means.
Besides Ephron, Norton also gives special thanks to director David Fincher (there's one scene, a brief dream sequence, that I could see was influenced by Fincher's work... and Seven is referenced early on as well.) I was surprised though not to see Michael Mann thanked, as Norton seemed to take the Heat route with Keeping the Faith. Scenes will just linger on long after they have served their purpose, usually to pan off to an establishing shot of a landmark of some sort. Trim that stuff down!
Keeping the Faith is by no means a bad film or a failure for Norton as either an actor or director. Perhaps Norton chose this project because it was a safe bet, as it's likely it will be moderately successful. Perhaps he will then use the film's success to make a movie that he REALLY wants to make. Time will tell. [PG-13]
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling - chuckd21@fdn.com The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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