Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Good start, but then it gets ruined

Excellent but underrated film

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Though formulaic, "Keeping The Faith" nevertheless does one thing which these "love triangle" or "romantic comedies" usually don't do: it takes itself seriously.And so while the film's framework – in which a priest (Edward Norton) and a rabbi (Ben Stiller) both lust over a mutual friend (actress Jenna Elfman) – is pure formula and the film's resolution entirely generic, "Keeping The Faith" nevertheless contains a number of interesting scenes. These scenes, which take issues of religion, love, friendship and faith seriously and which allow the film's characters to chew on some dramatic moments and dig deeper into what would ordinary be pretty cardboard characters, are the result of Edward Norton, who made his directorial debut with this film.Understandably an actor-centric film-maker, Norton does his best to wrestle some substance out of his cast, and at times finds some good stuff, like a scene in which a priest talks frankly about his celibacy, and another in which best friends share emotional, teary eyed confessions.The film's love triangle plot is also somewhat interesting. Each character embodies a different type of spiritual uncertainty, one seeking sexual intimacy, one God and celibacy, the other career and money, but each with their own anxieties about the ability of these quests to actually fill their respective existential holes. The resolutions these three characters ultimately settle upon are trite, but the way they expose their uncertainties are interesting, our trio possessing a kind of raw, emotional honesty that these cookie cutter films usually lack. Throw in a sexy and at times emotionally naked performance by Jenna Elfman, a couple very well written dialogue scenes and you have a pretty good debut.7.9/10 – Overlong and with an identity crisis, "Keeping The Faith" nevertheless contains three or four very good scenes.

I just finished watching it. I am nursing a broken collar bone and trying to stay off of this drug named "the computer"! I was so pleasantly surprised, the acting was great and I really cared about these characters...by the way, I consider myself agnostic, so I thought I was scraping the bottom of the barrel for something to watch. That could not be further from the truth. I have been a fan of Ben Stiller and have been a big fan of his parents comedy act for years. I had heard of Edward Norton before but don't recall seeing him in anything else before. I will definitely check out more of his work now. Jenna Elfman is awesome, as usual. I highly recommend this movie. It was time well spent.

Directed by the great Edward Norton who also stars in the lead role Keeping The Faith is a sweet,funny and underrated romantic comedy.If you don't watch this expecting something deep and meaningful then you will enjoy it a lot more.The story is this Catholic Priest Father Brian Finn and new Jewish Rabbi Jake Schram(Ben Stiller)have been best friends since High school and find they are working close together in New York.Brian is contacted by their other best friend Anna Riley(Jenna Elfman)who made up their inseparable childhood group and they get together to meet up.Despite having taken religious vows both men(as well as caring about her as a friend)feel romantic feelings developing for "Anna Bannna"(as they nickname her).The rest of the film centres on the three of them trying to sort out their feelings and Jake and Brian trying to get a new community centre open for people to come and socialise at.With great characters and fine support from Anne Bancroft as Jakes proud mum and Eli Wallach as a fellow Rabbi of Jakes this is funny and something that will cheer you up when your feeling down.Although not perfect and not the best film of all time if you give this a chance you should be happily surprised with what it has to offer,this is worth watching.Edward should be very proud of this little gem which is such a delight.

Okay, the premise of this whole is about two men in love with the same woman. The only problem is that one man is a Catholic priest and the other is a Jewish Rabbi. I liked some moments in the film when Brian tries to explain why he is a priest and the whole celibacy vow that you have to take to become a Catholic Priest. It's like he's trying to rationalize why he doesn't have sex as his choice or vocation in life. Men don't become priests for the glory, the high income, or the power. Men who become priests do it as a service to their communities, their families, etc. Sorry but priests get a bad rap lately because of all the scandals and politics but the personal rewards are so much greater than money, power, or popularity. There are priests and rabbis who do so much services to their communities whether handling funerals, counseling distraught families, dealing with poverty, AIDS, homelessness, etc. that they don't have time to think about the celibacy vow. Maybe if we didn't live in this age where sex is counted, we could have lived in an age where deeds, services, contributions, and generosity counts. So, I'm not crazy about Jenna Elfman who is a Scientologist. Technically, Ben Stiller is Half-Jewish but his mother Anne Meara is Irish Catholic herself so technically he's not. Edward Norton is cast as Father Brian. The other cast members including the divine Anne Bancroft as Jake's mom is worth watching. The friendship between Jake, Brian, and Anna are enduring but the whole sexuality just messes it up for all of them. It might have been nicer to have just Jake and Brian's relationship despite their different religions which are not so much different. People are so fascinated with the whole celibacy that society practically dictates that if you're not getting any, there's something wrong with you. Maybe there is or maybe there is such a fuss about sex in the general, you wonder what's so great about it in the first place. Of course, love makes the world of difference after all.