Keeping the Faith
by Lovell Mahan-Moutaw

I didn't know priests highlighted their hair. It is funny how much about Catholocism I don't know.

I do know that Keeping the Faith was a lot funnier than I expected it to be (since the trailers were pretty funny, I expected that they used up all their good material to get people to see the movie).

I also know that it was a little deeper as well...going into faith and family and how others' expectations of us can give us the golden opportunity to be cowards.

And finally I know that my dead albeit brief love affair with Jenna Elfman (adored her in the first five or six episodes of Dharma and Greg, then began getting annoyed by her, which turned to disliking her in the sense that I disliked Hope from Thirtysomething in her holier-than-thou false-woman-wise attitude), has been resurrected (no pun intended in this high holy time of year). She was particularly wonderful in this film and certainly portrayed a woman that I would think a rabbi and a priest might fall for, I guess, because I don't know what a rabbi or priest would fall for.

Does Edward Norton have a lisp?

Rumor has it that Ben Stiller and Edward Norton didn't get along during the filming. I think it kinda shows. They didn't really make me believe they were the best of friends. This was a weakness of the film, because the story rode on their friendship.

Am I the only one who thinks Ben Stiller is incredibly fuckable?

The story goes like this - two best friends grow up and one becomes a priest and one becomes a rabbi. Their old other best friend who left them when she was twelve or something and was the coolest girl in the world comes back into town and they find out she has become the coolest woman in the world. Both fall for her, but she falls for the rabbi, and they keep it from the priest. Relationships suffer. All turns out well in the end (sorry for the spoiler but it's not like this isn't a Hollywood movie).

Throughout the film I wanted to leap into the picture and steal Elfman's clothes. They were great.

Anyhoo.

It is more than just a romantic comedy, which was nice...delving into friendship and faith and love and family. It was nicely done in most cases. I laughed, I cried, I enjoyed myself.

And Stiller throws the best compliment since Nicholson's "You make me want to be a better man." You'll have to go see it to know what I'm talking about.

But, I didn't ooo and ahhh and think it was just too wonderful and sweet like I did with say, Return to Me. I didn't regret spending the money for it either.

Norton, like many New York-based directors (I can only guess he is either from New York or lives in New York) makes New York seem as magical as it probably isn't.

So, I guess that's all I've got to say. Go see it if that kind of film is your cup of tea.

CineScene, 2000