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starring: Blythe Auffarth, Anne Bancroft, Stuart Blumberg, Catherine Lloyd Burns, Lisa Edelstein
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 0786936137071
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Release Date: October 17, 2000
Running Time: 128 minutes
Sales Rank: 33245
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Theatrical Release Date: April 14, 2000
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
Keeping the Faith, Edward Norton's directorial debut, centers on Jake (Ben Stiller) and Brian (Norton), a rabbi and a priest who've been best friends since childhood. Both find their callings and grow into strong spiritual leaders for their community. The clever and occasionally slapstick comedy as Jake and Ben find their places in the religious community is precisely timed, and the film begins with a bang. Yet when childhood friend Anna (Jenna Elfman)--the perfect woman, a cross between 'Jonny Quest and Tatum O'Neal'--finds them after all these years, both men fall for the stunning woman who is married to her career and her vibrating cell phone. But what starts as the making of a great joke (of course, the priest is sworn to celibacy and there's not much of a market for a rabbi married to a gentile) turns into a somewhat mawkish romance with mixed messages about the meaning of faith and the power of love. When Anna and Jake secretly begin a tryst, 'just for fun,' they of course fall in love, which is where the movie begins to unravel, as Anna is oblivious to the turmoil Jake might be feeling in having to choose between his faith and her. Jake turns into a total schmuck, Brian into a drunken idiot, and every secondary character becomes a clichéd stereotype, right down to the yentas in the synagogue and the kindly mentor (director Milos Forman) who guides Brian. However, despite the muck, Norton is surprisingly sympathetic and Elfman is an adorable heroine who helps bring some shining, fun moments to a mediocre film. --Jenny Brown
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - 3 stars out of 4
The Bottom Line:
Far too long, with many uneven patches, Keeping the Faith is a pleasing enough romantic comedy but not an especially good or memorable one.
Rating:  - Wit, hilarity, and romance meet
I'm a little slow to view this movie, but even 8 years after its release, it was one of the funnier movies I've seen in the past 8 years. It was witty, sweet, pensive, and all around 5 stars. The plot, lines, and acting were top notch. I am a fan of this movie and recommend it to anyone who wants to laugh, cry, think, and feel. The story of Jake the Rabbi (Ben Stiller) and Brian the Priest (Edward Norton) as they reunite with their childhood friend Anna (Jenna Elfman), the workaholic, is a perfect ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent Direction and Acting Can't Quite Save This Movie
PROS
Awesome Direction
Deft storytelling
Great Performances all Around (Norton is amazing in his role!)
CONS
Too Long
Muddy Ethical Sermonry
Jenna Elfman
Rating: - for a realxing time
A bit unrealistic regarding the presentation of Judaism and Christianity in the movie. But a perfect story about three friends who finally come to terms with their relationships. A perfect love-story. THE urban romance-movie. A perfect Jenna Elfman.
Rating: - "It's complicated. I'm reading "Dianetics"."
KEEPING THE FAITH (2000), is a cinematic take on the old joke, "A priest and a rabbi meet this blonde coming down the street. . ." In this case, the blonde is Jenna Elfman (Anna), the priest is Edward Norton (Brian), and the rabbi is Ben Stiller (Jake), three childhood best friends.
KEEPING THE FAITH is very much about how religiously observant people balance the demands of the spiritual life against those of the temporal life; it's also about how people, observant or not, balance the ... Read More
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