Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Best friends since they were kids, Rabbi Jacob Schram and Father Brian Finn are dynamic and popular young men living and working on New York's Upper West Side. When Anna Reilly, once their childhood friend and now grown into a beautiful corporate executive, suddenly returns to the city, she reenters Jake and Brian's lives and hearts with a vengeance. Sparks fly and an unusual and complicated love triangle ensues.
Keeping the Faith is a genial but middling romantic comedy elevated slightly by its interfaith premise. The love triangle plot is predictable and resolves too neatly, with few genuine surprises. Norton and Stiller bring charm and likability to their roles, and Elfman adds warmth, but the performances rarely transcend the material. Cinematography is serviceable New York fare without distinction. The novelty comes from the rabbi-priest friendship dynamic and the thoughtful (if surface-level) engagement with religious identity, which gives the film a slightly fresher hook than the average romcom. The ending, however, leans into comfortable resolution in a way that undercuts the more interesting tensions the film raised.