Sometimes,
I wanna watch a movie that makes me smile from beginning to end. Although
I like my dark fixes, I often get in these moods where I just wanna watch
a sweet, funny, lighthearted movie that doesn't require a tremendous amount
of thinking. I've done enough thinking this week, ya know? So I went and
saw "Keeping the Faith," a romantic comedy starring Ben Stiller,
Edward Norton, and the adorable Jenna Elfman. As it turns out, "Keeping
the Faith" is a sweet, funny, lighthearted movie that doesn't require
a tremendous amount of thinking. And yes, I smiled from beginning to end.
The movie centers around three characters: a priest named "Father
Brian Finn" (Norton), a rabbi named "Rabbi Jacob Schram"
(Stiller), and "Anna Reilly" (Elfman). The three of them play
childhood friends, and the entire movie rides on them being likable characters.
Fortunately, they are. Jenna Elfman probably had the toughest job of making
her character likable, but she pulled it off. I like Jenna Elfman a lot.
Though I haven't seen it in over a year, she's great in the TV show "Dharma
& Greg" (a VERY well-written show), and the camera loves her.
Also, she's very pretty and she has a great body (her belly, in particular,
is really nice). I found out that she's a classically trained ballerina,
so I'm sure that helps.
Not to get off the subject (if you see the movie, you'll understand that it's not entirely off the subject anyway), but ya know what I hate? Cellular phones. I mean, they're great for emergencies and stuff like that, but like, have you ever been out with a girl, and then her cell phone rings, and you suddenly feel like a complete idiot, sitting there as the girl you're with babbles into the phone, seeming to forget that you're even there? Maybe it's just that I'm not Mr. Socialite, but I wouldn't DREAM of doing that. If I'm out with a woman, I'm out with a woman, and I don't WANNA be interrupted. So here's a message to any chickie who ever has the good fortune of going out with me: keep the freakin' cellular phone off! Oh wait, there was a point to all this. Um... oh yeah! In "Keeping the Faith," Ben Stiller's character offers a wonderful solution to the cellular phone thing I just mentioned.
Oh wait, wait, wait... there's something else. Okay, what's this new thing where a girl kisses a guy friend of hers (not a boyfriend, but a friend who happens to be a guy) on the lips? In this movie, Jenna Elfman's character kisses her two guy friends on the lips, as a way of saying hello and good-bye or whatever. I've seen that happen a lot lately, in the movies and in real life. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Don't get me wrong, I'd be more than happy to be like that with some of my female friends, but if I had a girlfriend who kissed her guy friends on the lips, I'd go nuts. Call me a jealous freak, call me insecure, whatever, I don't care, I just think that's wrong.
By the way, I don't know if you know this, but Jenna Elfman is married to Bodhi Elfman, the nephew of the great composer and former member of "Oingo-Boingo," Danny Elfman. Bodhi Elfman appears briefly in this movie as a guy nicknamed "Casanova." You hafta see the movie to know what I'm talking about.
Anyway...
Aside from Stiller, Norton, and Elfman, there are other great performances
by Anne Bancroft, director Milos Forman (he directed Edward Norton in
"The People Vs. Larry Flint"), and Eli Wallach. There's also
a couple of very funny scenes with an Asian guy named Ken Leung.
"Keeping the Faith" was written by Stuart Blumberg. This is his debut script, and it's a damn good one. He also has a single acting role to his credit, and that's as a car salesman in "Fight Club," a movie that happened to star Edward Norton. Hmmm..... Very interesting, eh? As for the director, it was Edward Norton. This is his directing debut, and I'm sure there will be plenty more to come from him. He did a great job. Ben Stiller, his co-star in the movie, has also directed before, but I wasn't very impressed. Although I LOVED his work in "The Ben Stiller Show" (a TV show on MTV and FOX that almost nobody watched, which is a shame, because it was absolutely brilliant), he also directed "Reality Bites," which is one of my most hated movies ever. That was his feature film directing debut, and his second effort, "The Cable Guy," was something I didn't see. He hasn't done anything since then.
Those who are
looking for a thought-provoking film that promotes religious debate will
be disappointed. Despite the fact that one main character is a rabbi and
another is a priest, the
religious differences aren't the issue, much less a source of conflict.
"Keeping the Faith" is, quite simply, a goshdarn likable, feel-good
movie, and as you walk out of the theater, you'll be glad you saw it. There
should be more movies like this.