# Keeping the Faith (2000)

### reviewed by
James Sanford

In the course of only four years and a handful of movies, Edward Norton has firmly established himself as a versatile, extraordinarily gifted performer. Whether he's playing a schizoid murder suspect ("Primal Fear"), a singing and dancing lawyer ("Everybody Says I Love You"), a rehabilitated neo-Nazi ("American History X") or a neurotic societal drop-out ("Fight Club"), Norton seems to have cultivated an uncanny knack for disappearing into the part.

Like so many actors, Norton also wants to direct, and based on the results of his first effort, "Keeping the Faith," that may not be as hazardous as it sounds. Far from being a "look at me!" vanity production along the lines of Kevin Costner's "The Postman" or Barbra Streisand's "The Mirror Has Two Faces," "Faith" is a cheerful, endearing ode to friendship and the magic of Manhattan. An admirer of Woody Allen, Norton has made his own "Annie Hall" here, and if the homage isn't the equal of the original, so what? It's entertaining nevertheless.

Admittedly, it does take a little while for the movie to find its bearings, and many of the scenes that introduce our heroes Father Brian Finn (Norton) and Rabbi Jacob Schram (Ben Stiller) are so broadly played and full of slapstick it looks as if "Faith" should have been titled "There's Something About Clergy." But after about 15 minutes of begging for laughter, the film finally settles down and begins concentrating on its characters.

And what characters they are. Brian and Jacob have been friends for over 20 years and, despite their different beliefs, they find they still have plenty in common, including unresolved crushes on Anna Riley, the neighborhood tomboy who moved away just before they started junior high school. Now Anna (Jenna Elfman) has returned to New York as a svelte, high-powered business consultant -- "I'm like a plumber, except I fix leaky corporations," she explains -- who's been so caught up in her career she hasn't had time to think about romance.

That's good news and bad news for the boys. Jacob has been anxiously looking for a wife, but fears there will be trouble at the temple if he marries a gentile. Brian, who had never before doubted his choice of vocation, begins to wonder if he could give it up to be with Anna.

"Keeping the Faith" handles these conflicts with humor, but at the same time the film doesn't treat them lightly. After so many years of seeing priests portrayed onscreen as either sheep to be led astray ("The Thorn Birds"), dithering do-nothings ("End of Days") or hungry-eyed perverts who lust after little boys ("The Butcher Boy"), "Faith" tries to remind us many men of the cloth are essentially well-balanced human beings. The pangs of guilt and self-doubt Brian endures don't turn him into a monster; instead they challenge him to examine his life and to make some hard decisions about where he wants to go next.

Norton, Stiller and Elfman are delightful to watch, both individually and collectively. Elfman is a particularly happy surprise, shaking off the shrillness that marked her roles in "EdTV" and "Krippendorf's Tribe" to reveal her playful side. Norton, who hasn't had much of a chance to show off his comic side in films before, sparkles, particularly in the scenes in which he and Anna try to make sense of their unorthodox relationship.

Although it tends to get a trifle long-winded, Stuart Blumberg's screenplay includes plenty of clever bits: Jacob complains about a potential date who faxed her resume to him and put down "jogging" as one of her skills; Brian incorporates references to the Fugees and Brad Pitt into his sermons. Under Norton's direction, "Keeping the Faith" typically goes for many little laughs instead of a few howlers. It all adds up to two very pleasant hours sure to raise your spirits. James Sanford

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