Keeping The Faith (2000)

Stop me if you've heard this one before, a priest, a rabbi, and a girl head into a bar... you guys can seriously stop me anytime. That is because the film I chose for today sort of has that premise as we tackle another Sheldon's choice in 2000's Keeping The Faith. The film was directed by and stars Edward Norton (Primal Fear) as Father Brian Finn who recounts a story of love and betrayal to a bartender (Brian George). Brian along with Rabbi Jake Schram (Ben Stiller) have been friends ever since they were kids, but they'll never forget the girl they were in love with when they were kids because she has returned into their lives and she complicates things as both of them once again fall in love. The film also stars Jenna Elfman (Ed TV) as Anna Riley, Anne Bancroft (The Graduate) as Ruth Schram, Eli Wallach (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly) as Rabbi Ben Lewis, Ron Rifkin (A Star Is Born) as Larry Friedman, Milos Forman (One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest) as Father Havel, Holland Taylor (Two And A Half Men) as Bonnie Rose, Rena Sofer (The Bold and The Beautiful) as Rachel Rose, Ken Leung (Star Wars: Episode VII- The Force Awakens) as Don, and Lisa Edelstein (Girlfriends Guide To Divorce) as Ali Decker.

I am not so sure how I feel about Jenna Elfman because she was an OK actress who gained popularity through a television show, but she was not a leading lady because her performance in this film was OK. I thought that the strongest performances in the film came from Ben and Edward who play the stars of the show, but I just felt that Jenna couldn't really keep up with their star power. There were times where some of her mannerisms felt too forced in some scenes, but as far as the movie was concerned this was a decent first attempt at directing by Edward Norton. There were definitely moments in the film placed their for his fellow actors to shine that could have been left out because they either dragged the scene too long or just were unnecessary. I'm not sure if he intentionally was trying to point out the dilemma between interfaith relationships and what I mean by that is they represented the new ideals where anyone should marry anyone regardless of faith versus the people Stiller was trying to impress that represented the old way of thinking. Nonetheless, the film loses it's steam in that regard as it gets lost in the romantic comedy Hollywood tropes that it tries to follow faithfully. It is not a terrible movie by any means, but two hours was just too much for this film. There is definitely some fantastic moments like the cinematography or Ken Leung as Don the karaoke salesmen. That is why I checked it out for free on VUDU and also why I am going to give the film an C+/B- (Somewhere in there) for a final grade.