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Keeping the Faith

Keeping the Faith

List Price: $14.99
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Magic By Norton, Stiller and Elfman
Review: Edward Norton stars along with Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman in "Keeping the Faith," a comedy which also marks Norton's directorial debut. This is a funny, sometimes hilarious film, that succeeds in maintaining the humor even while dealing in a straightforward and very serious manner with the subject of faith and, ultimately, its effect on the relationship of three people. Brian (Norton), Jake (Stiller) and Anna (Elfman) are an inseparable trio in childhood, until the eighth grade when Anna's family moves from New York City to California. The boys continue on as best friends but lose contact with Anna until sixteen years later, when she unexpectedly shows up back in New York and calls Brian. Anna is now a successful businesswoman; Brian is a priest, Jake a rabbi. They manage to pick up right where they had left off all those years ago, but of course things have changed for all of them. Soon Brian and Jake find themselves falling in love with Anna. Brian's vocation, however, prevents him from pursuing a relationship, and Jake, though single and able to marry, encounters an obstacle in the fact that Anna is not Jewish. All of which is a moot point, of course, until Anna also falls in love with one of them; and we suddenly find ourselves in the realm of Ingmar Bergman. At this point, many comedies sink into that nether world of genre identity-crises: Is this really a comedy, or drama? Happily, Norton keeps things moving right along with a steady hand. Instead of turning dark, the story goes on to explore what a real commitment to faith means in terms of the sacrifice and choices that go along with it, and Norton manages to pull off a magician's trick of keeping it light and thought-provoking at the same time, no easy accomplishment when dealing with such sensitive issues as love and faith within the framework of comedy. The charismatic Norton and the likable Stiller put real life into the characters of Brian and Jake, and Elfman brings a quirky, accessibility to Anna that makes you want to root for all of them. These are good people you quickly come to care about; you laugh along with them and at their situation, while at the same time you're hoping they all make the right decisions so we can all live happily ever after. The fine supporting cast includes Anne Bancroft, Eli Wallach and Milos Forman. "Keeping the Faith" is a movie that will make you laugh and smile, but it will also give you much to think about for a long time afterwards.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Have Some Faith, This is a Good Romantic Comedy
Review: Edward Norton`s directing debut focuses the story of three long-time friends, a priest (Norton himself), a rabi (Ben Stiller) and a business woman (Jenna Elfman). This friendship will turn into a troubled romantic love triangle, questioning the power of faith, trust, friendship and love. It`s funny enough, even if not hilarious, and the characters are deeper than those of an average comedy, especially Edward Norton`s priest, quite credible and realistic. As a whole, the movie is a fine, hip and witty NY love story, avoiding the usual sapiness as it doesn`t get too romantic and lame. Of course, the ending is predictable and happy as ever, but it doesn`t seem too forced and actually makes sense. A good movie for the twentysomethings.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: a wonderful directing debut from Edward Norton
Review: Edward Norton(25th Hour, Fight Club, The Score), Ben Stiller(Duplex, Along Came Polly, Zoolander) and Jenna Elfman(Cant Hardly Wait and tv's Dharma and Greg) star as 3 friends. Norton becomes a preist, Stiller a rabbi and Elfman becomes a succesful buisness woman. both men are in love with Elfman and things heat up. the highlight of this movie would be when Stiller tries to get to Elfman and the security guard hassels him..(the part where Stiller sees Elfman, runs in and the security puts out his arm and smacks him down..hilarious)..also where Stiller has all those Jewish trading cards(a hoot as well)..Norton has his moments (when Stiller is watching the briss and Norton drops the smoke thing on his robe and it lights on fire..he runs and parks his behind in holy water...great).. lacks some things but all in all its an interesting view

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Sweet movie
Review: Keeping the faith is the story of 3 childhood friends.At the age of 11 Anna leaves the city,her friends Jake and Brian,and moves to another city...Eventually,Jack becomes a rabbi and Brian becomes a priest and they remain best friends.Many years later,they find out that Anna is coming back to New York.And this is the beginning of a very funny and romantic movie.

You should not expect a pure comedy out of this one,like "There's something about Mary" or "Meet the parents",otherwise you may be a bit disappointed.There are numerous funny parts,but it has also very clever and important messages about the faith in god,religions and people's understanding of religions.

All three actors have good performances in the movie but I especially liked Jenna Elfman.I should also add that while Edward Norton is one of the best actors alive today,I have certain doubts about his directing ability.He is not a great storyteller,and this reflects on the unnecessary length of the movie.

On the DVD,I recommend you to watch the deleted scenes because they are very important in my opinion,and should have stayed in the final version.(though it is understandable why they didn't..The movie would be longer than Gladiator).

It is a nice movie with an interesting storyline that I think everybody can like.."Trust me,you have not heard this one".

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun Romantic Comedy
Review: Okay, so you get an Irish Catholic Priest and a Jewish Rabbi who had a tom-boy friend when they were kids and you have a great idea for a movie.

Who thinks of these things anyway??

Stiller and Norton, although not looking like they would be friends, do a great job of acting like it. Their characters come together well, especially after Anna (Jenna Elfman) returns to NY for a career move after being away since she was young girl.

The flash back and then forward sequence is excellent. You almost forget where the movie started because there are so many cute twists to the movie.

There is also a lesson in the movie, one of love and compromise and you get a sense of the challenges people face when they make life choices as far as career, marriage and family issues.

This is a fun movie, good for the DVD library. The language is a little harsh in places, yet, it is an okay film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun, Thoughtful, Romantic - Great movie!
Review: This was not your typical romantic comedy by any stretch. A priest, a rabbi, and a business woman sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but it actually is the scenario for a wonderful film that explores faith, friendship, love, tradition, and conviction.

The basic premise of the film are three friends: a priest Brian (Norton), his best friend a rabbi, Jake (Ben Stiller) who both fall in love with a childhood friend Anna (Jenna Elfman). The story uses each of these characters to explore various issues. Anna is presented as the workaholic person driven by the need to succeed. She says when we first meet her, "I work harder than God. If God had hired me, the world would have been finished by Thursday." Jake is pressured by his Jewish community to find a nice Jewish girl to settle down with. Brian is a devote Catholic whose vow of celibacy is tempted by his love for Anna. Brian and Jakes friendship is tested over their mutual love for the same girl.

While sounding like a complex plot, Norton (who debuts as a director with this film) does an amazing job of telling a story, exploring these issues, making you laugh, and adding a good solid love story to boot.

I was struck by how this film is very representative of an entire generation. It's sort of a romantic Friends episode dealing with the complications that arise when faith conflicts with love and tradition. I think it speaks to a lot of young people who have grown up in various traditions and are then confronted with difficult decisions (and often associated guilt) as they wrestle with how to balance their lives.

What is really important in life? What is the difference between faith and tradition? How do I move from success to significance? Is love more important than a career? What does friendship look like?

These are the questions that the film strives to raise for the viewer. Perhaps the line that best summaries this thread through the film is given by Jake towards the end of the film, in which he says: "We live in a really complex world. A world in which boundaries and definitions are blurring and bleeding into each other in ways that challenge us not just as Jews, but as human beings."

The movie is a success based on the likeability of the characters alone. Norton does an amazing job of building the characters and the depth of their relationships very quickly. One scene in particular, at a diner where Brian imitates "Rainman," does a phenomenal job of showing the friendship and chemistry between these three people. This is perhaps Elfman's strongest performance yet on film. She does a great job of portraying the driven business type but with enough charm and sophistication to still keep your interest and affection. Norton and Stiller pull off great performances that give you the sense that they have been life-long friends. You don't come to just know the characters, you come to genuinely like them.

Throughout the movie there a numerous laughs and moments that are too funny. I saw this on DVD and the gag scenes and deleted scenes are not to be missed. I'm surprised they kept some of the deleted scenes out of the movie as I think it could have helped build the characters even further.

All in all, a great movie - one that caught me by surprise. A great date movie and one that any Gen X person in their 20s or 30s should see.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 2 men fancy 1 woman. 17th april 2004.
Review: Edward norton and ben stiller play 2 jenna elfman lovers. Brian [norton] and jake[stiller], have known a girl now a woman for as long as they can remember. They have both been good friends to her since childhood, and she falls in love with brian. He as been going out with her for a while now, and she soon falls in love with jake. She starts going bed with jake still brian dosen't know, and he carries on as normal. In the end, it all comes out. Jake dumps her because they are different religions and the best thing for him is to leave her even though he still fancies her. Brian makes friends with jake and jake and anna are back together he caught her in time when she was about to leave town for good. They are all bestest mates even though she is jakes girlfriend still. SEEN IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND NEVER BORED OF IT STILL.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A funny, perky comedy
Review: I find this movie to be very funny and lighthearted. Simply put its entertaining and thats what a comedy should be.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great love story.
Review: Edward Norton, Ben Stiller and Jenna Elfman all turn in fantastic performances in this bubblegum love triangle story. This movie is just really fun and cute. Both Ben and Edward are hilarious in this. Pick up your copy today.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Ignorance
Review: As a romantic comedy it's standard fare. Ben Stiller does his usual array of funny facial expressions, and the female interest is very watchable. My main problem was Stiller's character's supreme ignorance of the arab-israeli dispute. It seemed as though he was trying to trivialise it. Coming from a supposed Rabbi - this was insensitive in the extreme. If this subject had to be brought into a harmless rom-com, then surely it could have been done with maybe a little more tact? Not all of us see suicide bombings and the humiliation of a people as light hearted rom com material.


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