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Keeping The Faith
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The Film :
One of the surprising things of Keeping the Faith is that
this comedy was directed by Edward Norton, who also stars. Norton, better
known for much heavier, meatier, grittier, Oscar-nominated roles in Primal
Fear and American History X, would not be the first
person you'd expect to direct a comedy. However, with Keeping the
Faith, it seems he did a good job.
The story involves Brian (Norton) and Jake (Ben Stiller), who grow up
to be a priest and a rabbi, respectively. They've been neighborhood
friends since they were kids, and as far as they're concerned, nothing can
come between them. Suddenly, Brian gets called by Anna Riley (Jenna Elfman),
who as a young girl was a tomboy who went with the two boys everywhere.
She had to move away when they were quite young, and now she's back in
town. Upon the reunion, both boys are shocked to find out the
former "tomboy" has grown up quite a bit! As it turns out, there
may be something that can challenge their friendship after all, since both
boys fall in love with her.
The biggest problem this film has is its overuse of comedic
clichés.
Romantic love triangles are one thing, though Jewish/Catholic jokes are
something else. You sort of imagine the scriptwriters trying to find a
reason why one of the boys would be a "better" pick for Anna
than the other. Suddenly, they decide to make one of them a priest,
who can't marry. Then someone comes up with the idea of making the other
one a rabbi, who'd have problems with her religious faith. Then all the
ancient rabbi/priest jokes come pouring in, and the whole worth of the
romantic comedy goes down a notch.
Even with such clichés, however, the extremely likeable cast pulls this film up
from the depths. You truly wish that Jenna Elfman's character would end up
with one of these two boys; either pairing would create a
cute couple. On the other hand, ladies in the audience might not like
Anna's final choices; the rabbi and priest must make no changes in their
life, while Anna must make two, including her own job? Regardless,
it offers quite a nice date movie choice, as well as a nice conversation
starter afterwards.
The DVD :
The film is offered in the standard video/audio format for DVDs lately:
Widescreen Anamorphic, Dolby Surround Sound, with closed-captioning
available. Two separate commentaries offer insight from director/actor Ed
Norton, and writer/producer Stuart Blumbert. I would've liked Ben
Stiller's and Jenna Elfman's insights as well in such a commentary track,
though you take what you get.
What this DVD shines in is the deleted
scenes category. No less than 21 minutes of deleted footage is offered,
plus an 8 minute gag reel. The gag reel is intriguing enough, with its
amusing bloopers made by just about every cast member in the film! What's
even better; many of the deleted scenes are a riot! In one, Ed Norton
pretends to be drunk, while another shows their characters as kids, acting
in front of a home movie camera (apparently this was intended to be used
in a nostalgic "watching old home movies together" segment which
was never used). "The Art Gallery" shows an amusing side of
Elfman's character never used in the film, when she's totally uninhibited
(and very obviously braless),
shouting obscenities to her co-worker over her cellular phone, while in a
glamorous art museum. The scene ends with her falling into a glitzy water
fountain, laughing her head off. Regardless of how amusing this scene is, Norton confesses that this is the first scene that was cut, to make
for a smoother story. Imagine that!
The BEST deleted scene, however, would have
to be "Anna and her Cell Phone." Anna (Elfman) is called by Jake
(Ben Stiller), who is sick of having to compete with her cell phone. What
if he made the phone work for him, not against him? He tells Anna to put
the cell phone in "buzzer" mode and attach it to the special
garter belt she wears to carry it everywhere. Just as he makes his
"stimulating" phone call, Anna gets interrupted in the office by
two co-workers who need help with sales charts. The resulting scene is not
only funny; it's funnier than almost anything else in the film. This
scene, if uncut, would have been in league with the infamous Meg Ryan
coffee shop scene in When Harry Met Sally. Instead, it's cutting room
floor fodder, because Norton felt it was more of a "Farrelly
Brothers" type of joke. I admit, I'm no big fan of the Farrelly
Brothers, though even I must admit their humor has its place. This one
scene would have made this comedy a goldmine. Bad news for the film...good
news for DVD owners!
Even if you think that Anna's buzzer scene
is not worth the price of the DVD, there's something here for everyone.
It's also amusing to note that there are so many deleted scenes here that
are funnier than the majority of the entire final movie. Presuming you
liked the film in the first place, I'd recommend hunting for the DVD.
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