If you like Ben Stiller … if you liked “There’s Something About Mary” … if you just like a good comedy, you’ll hate “Keeping the Faith.”
Edward Norton’s directing debut is disappointing, to say the least. It’s a schmaltzy romantic comedy about the love-lives of a priest, a rabbi and a blonde. Sounds like a bad joke, doesn’t it?
Well, the movie is a joke, and unfortunately it’s not a very funny one.
Best friends since childhood, Jake Schram (Stiller) and Brian Finn (Norton) are successful, single men living in New York City. The two are reunited with Anna Reilly (Jenna Elfman), another childhood friend who has become a beautiful corporate executive. Of course, sparks fly and a complicated love triangle is formed.
The twist is that Jake is a rabbi and Brian is a Catholic priest.
As a rabbi, Jake faces enormous pressure from his mother (Anne Bancroft) and his congregation to marry a Jewish woman. In fact, his job depends on it.
As a Catholic priest, Brian is not allowed to date or marry. And as best friends, Jake and Brian know that a relationship with Anna would jeopardize, or at least complicate, their friendship.
But can the two remain true to their faiths and friendships when the lovable Anna reenters their lives?
From the beginning, we watch the two jockey for position to get close to Anna, even though she is out-of-bounds for both of them.
When Brian tells Jake that Anna called him and she is moving back to the city after being in California since the three were eighth- graders, Jake is excited at first. But then that funny little emotion called envy kicks in and he wonders why she chose to call Brian instead of him. He concludes that she must have chosen alphabetically.
“Keeping the Faith” adds a bit of a new spin on the age-old story of two friends in love with the same girl. It makes for a cute romantic comedy, but it is really aimed at an older audience.
It’s the kind of movie that your grandparents will love.
On the positive side, always-comical Stiller has his moments. But for the most part, he is shackled by a boring, too-polite script.
The same can be said about two-time Academy Award nominee Norton. The movie just doesn’t allow him to do the great acting that he is capable of.
As for Elfman, the hilarious star of the ABC sitcom “Dharma and Greg,” she seems confined to an eye-candy role despite being the perfect actress to play the role of Anna, “the coolest girl” Jake and Brian have ever known.
All in all, “Keeping the Faith” is funny at times, but not much more than a mushy rehash of a tired old tale. For those of us in the under-50 crowd, it’s the can-miss movie of the week.