Film's predictability outweighs sporadic humor

By Paul Trembacki
Sports Editor

"Keeping the Faith" is the goal of the two main characters in the movie by the same name. Moviegoers might, however, want to rename the movie "Keeping Awake" because that is the task the audience must take on as the movie begins to drag.

The movie, a supposedly comedic story about two kids, one Jewish and the other Catholic, who ascend to positions as a rabbi and priest, has a handful of laughs that can't outweigh the snores of those in the audience. Most of the attempted humor is from religious jokes, most of which involve people reciting or singing Hebrew and others laughing at them.

The writers, however, forgot that Jewish humor has already been covered extensively by Seinfeld and others. In doing so, they also forgot to tell us what the Hebrew translation is for "beat a dead horse."

There are a handful of laughs at other points in the movie, but if you have seen the previews for the film, you have basically seen them all.

The laughs, while good, are sporadic, and the story gets pretty sappy pretty quick.

The two main characters are Father Brian Finn (Edward Norton) and Rabbi Jacob Schram (Ben Stiller). The two have been friends since they were kids growing up in New York; back then they also had Anna Reilly (Jenna Elfman), a tomboy who played football, ran races and goofed off — basically, an immature young boy's dream.

However, Reilly leaves the boys before the three can even experience high school. Then, after years go by and the boys become men of the cloth — popular ones, nonetheless — the girl becomes a corporate executive. Later Reilly returns to New York for business, reuniting the trio.

As one can easily guess, both men eventually fall madly in love with Reilly. Then the problems begin. Finn has sworn a vow of celibacy and Schram just happens to be feeling pressure by synagogue goers and hierarchy members to marry someone.

So — surprise — Schram and Reilly eventually bond in more ways than one, while Finn questions his vows, and the ending is not hard to predict.

The chronology and plot of the movie are not hard to predict or to follow. It starts with a drunk Norton telling his plight to a bartender and the flashback goes from there. Then the viewer is brought to the present, and from then on, things drag.

The movie is kept on life support by a few funny Stiller scenes sprinkled throughout the boringness. One involves Jewish trading cards, and another involves a blind date before which Schram punches his date and during which she has a bite of pecan pie not realizing that it contains nuts, which she is allergic to.

Stiller does a good job of playing the role of a witty, unlucky, clumsy character — the role we've seen him play in "There's Something About Mary," "Mystery Men" and other movies.

However, Elfman's performance wavers between average and below average. This makes the love affair even harder to believe.

The man who should take most of the blame for this disaster, however, is Norton. In this movie he seems to lose some acting credibility, possibly a result of his dual role as actor and director.

This was his directorial debut, and after a bust like this, he might want to just stick with acting for now. After all, he was an Oscar nominee for his performances in "American History X" and "Primal Fear." But in this movie there are several scenes during which the audience members, those who are still awake, have to turn away and tell themselves that even Oscar nominees have their down days.

The worst Norton blunder is when his character finds out Reilly is in love with Schram, not him. Then Finn, who supposedly never drinks, quickly and effortlessly downs a small bottle of some sort of whiskey or bourbon. Viewers are asked to believe that this can be done, and, on top of that, he is stumbling around and fully intoxicated shortly after and does not vomit.

With time, Norton could learn to balance directing and acting, but in this film he is a disappointment to say the least.

Norton, Norton, why hath thou forsaken us?