Review of Keeping the Faith (2000) by Marina N — 20 Jan 2009

To be fair, the film had some moments of true originality, where the three adults dealt with love, friendship, and faith in an intelligent way that didn't deteriorate into the schmaltzy, overly sentimental, often trite dialogue that can either sink or support this genre. The adults remained adults, and their problems and situation were believable. The trouble, however, is that, though the conflicts were believable, the adults themselves and their portrayers were not always. While the whole cast was pleasant, and the three leads were cast in roles that probably weren't really stretches for them, their chemistry was flat, and oftentimes, the film itself was boring and sleep-inducing. The comedic scenes, in fact, were almost always more effective than the dramatic scenes, given that Mr. Stiller is a comedian by trade. Jenna Elfman brought nothing interesting to the role. In many ways, her character felt like something of a cookie cutter with no dimension, simply the no-holds-barred woman with a streak of individuality who can think for herself until love gets in the way. Her presence in a scene often dragged the movie down quite a bit.

This is a film that relies on its writing and its performances to achieve its aim, and it sufficiently did so but in a way that ultimately felt as formulaic as any typical entry in the genre. As for the production values, there was nothing notable to the film worth mentioning. All things considered, Keeping the Faith had an interesting premise but was really more of the same-old in the romance category.