Keeping the Faith

This is perhaps my favorite Ben Stiller movie. Don't get me wrong, "There's Something About Mary" is a classic and a very fun movie, but I like this one better. Keeping the Faith is a crisp, funny, topical, real story, that most everyone can relate to. Which of the Mary characters do you relate to?

It starts smart and it ends smart. The writing is superb and the acting is not over done like most other Ben Stiller movies. If you are among those who say Stiller can't act, or that he only plays one basic character, watch this movie and let me know what you think. Rabbi Shram is outside his usual tight circle of characters. Zoolander notwithstanding, Stiller usually plays his perception of "Every Man" and sometimes it works. "Meet the Parents" is the best example of that.

But, back to Keeping the Faith. Edward Norton plays a wonderfully comic Catholic Priest who is infatuated with the same girl as Stiller's Rabbi Shram. Yes, there is a joke in there and if you don't think the opening scene is funny, you probably won't like the rest of the movie. It is a perfect set up. Jenna Elfman does some of her best work here as the long time childhood friend of the religious duo who comes back see them as adults. Brilliant - funny - touching.

Anne Bancroft and Eli Wallach play the senior influence on Stiller's character and Milos Forman does the same for Norton's. Great scenes we can all relate to.

Watch this movie with someone you can squeeze.