Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageKeeping the Faith (2000)
Director: Edward Norton
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Norton's directorial debut feature (discounting his re-cut of American History X) is a romantic triangle dating movie as confected, and nearly as wholesome, as a '50s Universal bedroom farce, but lacking the confidence and zest. The script sandwiches svelte exec Anna (Elfman) between two former girlhood chums, Jake (Stiller) and Brian (Norton), after her return to Manhattan from a contrived 10 years in California. In the interim, Jake's become a rabbi, and Brian a priest. Can Jake tell Rabbi Lewis (Wallach) he's to marry a shiksa? Can celibate Brian declare his heart and break Jake's? Norton sets this up with intriguing effect, playing the listener as Stiller carries off all the funny lines, but drops the ball halfway, losing the humour among a string of confessionals. Elfman (the star of TV's Dharma and Greg) has the hardest task, to humanise, sweeten and give credibility to a character who's a paragon of wealth and beauty. All credit to her, she manages it pretty well, though her poise can sometimes seem like disengagement.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Edward Norton
Producer: Hawk Koch, Edward Norton, Stuart Blumberg
Cast: Ben Stiller, Edward Norton, Jenna Elfman, Anne Bancroft, Eli Wallach, Ron Rifkin, Milos Forman, Holland Taylor, Lisa Edelstein full cast
Genre(s): Comedy
Duration: 129 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now