Grade: B-

Verdict: A sweet-natured romantic comedy that would be a lot fizzier if it were 30 minutes shorter.

Details: Starring Ben Stiller, Edward Norton and Jenna Elfman. Rated PG-13 for sexuality and profanity. 2 hours, 9 minutes.

Rate it: Write your own review

Review: When Father Brian Finn (Edward Norton) starts to tell the tale of his lifelong friendship with best pal Rabbi Jake Schram (Ben Stiller), a listener says, "A priest and a rabbi? I think I've heard this one." And sure enough, "Keeping the Faith" traffics in some clerical slapstick: flaming censers and circumcision traumas. But at its best, it's a sweet-natured hymn to love and longtime friendship.

From their separate Manhattan altars, Brian and Jake pitch the prophets' teachings like stand-up comics, a tactic you can imagine alienating as many congregants as it attracts. They call themselves the God Squad. "Faith is a hunch that there is something bigger," Finn says at one point, which lets you know this will not be a theologically challenging film.

No, it's more about love and friendship, once the boys' childhood pal Anna (Jenna Elfman) returns to New York. Brian describes the young Anna as a cross between Jonny Quest and Tatum O'Neal. The grown-up version still has that one-of-the-guys spunk, but she catches both men's eye in more than a friendly way.

Brian, of course, has that pesky vow of celibacy. As for Jake, he has the "kosher nostra," all the older women at his temple who want to set him up with their daughters. There's also his mother (Anne Bancroft), who has disowned his brother for marrying a shiksa. Despite these obstacles, "Faith" becomes a sophisticated love triangle, as one of the guys hooks up with Anna while trying to keep it a secret from his best friend.

The movie's first 90 minutes has charm, a sophisticated sexiness and some nice, offbeat bits — including the guys' encounter with a heavily accented karaoke vendor and Jake's date with a gorgeous but job-obsessed TV journalist (Rena Sofer). The wittier bits balance out the slacker church jokes and broad comedy, such as Jake's date with a zero-body-fat masochist who confuses body blows with foreplay.

So it's really a shame about the movie's last half-hour, which sputters and sags when it should be quickening toward the finish line. It throws in too many last-second problems, including a medical crisis that's a cheap excuse for some huggy-feely exchanges. There's a reason the best romantic comedies clock in well under the two-hour mark. Like a soap bubble, the genre can't keep buoyant for too long before it loses altitude and pops.

Though he lets Stuart Blumberg's script drag on way too long, Norton makes a smooth debut as a feature film director. Not surprisingly, he shows a gift working with other actors (who include Norton's "People vs. Larry Flynt" director Milos Forman, playing an older priest). Norton also has a good eye for composition; the movie makes New York look not just livable, but lickable.

— Steve Murray, Cox News Service