Keeping the Faith is a 2000 American romantic comedy film written by Stuart Blumberg, and starring Ben Stiller, Edward Norton (in his directorial debut), Jenna Elfman, Eli Wallach, and Anne Bancroft. This film was released by Touchstone Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment, in association with Triple Threat Talent, on April 14, 2000.
Keeping the Faith | |
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Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Edward Norton |
Produced by | Hawk Koch Edward Norton Stuart Blumberg |
Written by | Stuart Blumberg |
Starring |
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Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
Cinematography | Anastas N. Michos |
Edited by | Malcolm Campbell |
Production company | Touchstone Pictures Spyglass Entertainment Koch Co. Norton/Blumberg Productions Triple Threat Talent |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 128 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $29 million |
Box office | $59.9 million |
The film is dedicated to Norton's late mother, Robin. It had a budget of $29 million.
Screenplay
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The film begins with a drunken and downtrodden Catholic priest telling his story to a sympathetic bartender (Brian George). Father Brian Finn (Edward Norton) has been dedicated to his calling since he was a child and now shares the duties of a New York parish with an older priest, Fr. Havel (Miloš Forman). Rabbi Jacob "Jake" Schram (Ben Stiller), best friends with Brian since childhood, is the youngest rabbi at his synagogue; his lack of effort to find a Jewish wife often results in his mother, Ruth (Anne Bancroft) and other women of his congregation setting him up on blind dates, much to his dismay. The two men show a close bond, even in their professions, where the two are planning the opening of a jointly sponsored community center. In its earlier days, the friendship included a third party. Via flashbacks and reminiscent musings, Anna Reilly (Jenna Elfman) is introduced: she met Jake and Brian in middle school, after beating up a bully who was picking on them. The three became great friends, and enjoyed their childhood together. Unfortunately, Anna's father got a new job that resulted in the Reillys moving to California, and ultimately she lost touch with Brian and Jake.
Sixteen years later, Anna calls her old friends out of the blue and the friendship is rekindled when her company temporarily reassigns her to a New York position. Feelings quickly begin to run deeper than before, as Anna, despite her workaholic tendencies, is as vibrant as Brian and Jake remembered her; however, it is the men's careers that are the most problematic. She and Jake begin sleeping together, but he is reluctant to be involved in a serious relationship with her because she is not Jewish, a fact which could compromise his relationship with his congregation and also with his mother (who disowned her eldest son - Jake's older brother Ethan - for marrying outside the faith). Between the religious conflict and their desire to spare the feelings of their mutual friend, the relationship is kept mostly secret, resulting in both humorous and harmful complications. As the months pass, both Jake and Anna's feelings for each other become stronger but due to the aforementioned issues, Jake still refuses the relationship as a serious one, despite Anna dropping hints to him about her having been recently taking a class (but refusing to tell him what kind of class it is), and her becoming visibly upset when they run into members of Jake's congregation while on a date and Jake introducing her only as "my old friend Anna".
As the Community Center's grand opening approaches, along with the last days of Anna's East Coast assignment, the relationships begin to mend, first with Jake reconciling with Brian, followed by Anna reconciling with Brian shortly after. A discussion between the two men prompts Jake to go to Anna's office building, with Brian shouting encouragement at him as he runs down the street. Jake interrupts Anna's going away office party and manages to get her attention from a window in the building across the street and calls to explain himself and offer to set things right. Later that evening, they surprise Brian in the middle of his karaoke number at the interfaith center, which looks to be off to a successful start. Anna greets Rabbi Lewis (Eli Wallach) as he passes by and asks about their meetings together, referencing the class that Anna had told Jake briefly she had been taking, at which point it becomes clear that she had been taking classes to convert to Judaism. She tells him she hopes to pick it up again as she is also now staying in New York, with Jake clearly thrilled. The film ends happily with the three childhood friends posing for a photo together.
- Ben Stiller as Rabbi Jacob "Jake" Schram
- Samuel R. Goldberg as Teenage Jake Schram
- Edward Norton as Father Brian Kilkenney Finn
- Michael Charles Roman as Teenage Brian Finn
- Jenna Elfman as Anna Reilly
- Blythe Auffarth as Teenage Anna Reilly
- Anne Bancroft as Ruth Schram
- Miloš Forman as Father Havel
- Eli Wallach as Rabbi Ben Lewis
- Holland Taylor as Bonnie Rose
- Lisa Edelstein as Ali Decker
- Rena Sofer as Rachel Rose
- Bodhi Elfman as Howard the Casanova, the businessman in the office across the road
- Brian George as Paulie Chopra, the Sikh Catholic Muslim with Jewish in-laws who owns an Irish Pub
- David Wain as Steve Posner
- Eugene Katz as Mohel (performing the circumcision in opening sequence where Jake faints)
- Ken Leung as Don, the electronics store owner
- Susie Essman as Ellen Friedman
- Catherine Lloyd Burns as Debbie
- Radio Man (Craig Castaldo) as himself
- Brian Anthony Wilson as T-Bone
Keeping the Faith received mixed to positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 69% rating, sampled from 115 film critics, with an average score of 6.2/10. The consensus states: "A dramedy featuring an unusual love triangle, Keeping the Faith is a perceptive look at how religion affects us in everyday life." Metacritic gives the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on reviews from 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2002: AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions – Nominated
Box office
The film opened at #3 at the US box office, making $8,078,671 in its opening weekend, behind 28 Days and Rules of Engagement. The film eventually grossed $37,047,880 in North America and $22,897,303 in other territories, totaling $59,945,183 worldwide.