Did you hear the one about the priest, the rabbi and the Scientologist?  It’s not a joke, but rather Keeping the Faith, the directorial debut of Hollywood wunderkind Ed Norton, who co-produced the film with his buddy (and the film’s screenwriter) Stuart Blumberg.  Norton casts himself as the priest, Ben Stiller as the rabbi and Jenna Elfman – a Scientologist in real life – plays the woman that comes between the two pious pals.

Like Norton’s Fight Club, the film has the disheveled star telling most of the film through flashback, this time as his character Father Brian Finn.  In the sixth grade, Brian and his best friend Jacob Schram (Stiller, Black & White) form an inseparable, platonic bond with fellow student Anna Reilly (Elfman, Dharma & Greg).  The three are joined at the hip for two years, until Anna’s father gets a job transfer.  Brian and Jacob remain close, but they never see Anna again.

As adults, Brian and Jacob pursue their respective spiritual careers, incorporating honest, comedic routines to their sermons, which soon are delivered to packed rooms as the word spreads through their neighborhood that faith is hip again.  Nicknamed “The God Squad,” the priest and rabbi even plan to open a multi-faith senior citizen karaoke/dance club to which their flocks can flock.  Everything is going well, until Anna calls and announces that she’s coming to New York for an extended business trip.

Of course, when the two men pick Anna up at the airport, they find that she’s a stone-cold fox. Despite previously having only a friendly, non-physical relationship with Anna, you know it won’t be long before Brian and Jacob are beating their chests and tugging at her like two lions tearing apart a gazelle.  Yup – there’s nothing like vagina to ruin a good friendship.  And unless you’re talking about a Gregg Araki film, there is really only two ways the film can end – Anna leaves New York alone and Brian and Jacob stay friends, or Anna stays in New York and all three remain friends.

Faith has a very funny trailer, which is always a concern these days since it seems that a film’s best moments are usually shown in its preview.  That’s not the case here, as Faith blows through most of the trailer’s highlights in the first five minutes.  There are some great religious gags in the film, usually revolving around Judaism (Jacob plays with “Heroes of the Torah” playing cards and is dogged by persistent Jewish mothers that fix him up on dates that he can’t refuse), while Norton uses the film to show off his dead-on impressions of Rain Man and Latka Gravas.  The usually annoying Elfman is downright charming as the high-powered something-or-other businesswoman.

Two-time Oscar nominee Norton, who has already logged five amazing performances in just six major releases, lets the film get away from him about two-thirds of the way through, where things begin to drag.  It’s really too bad, because Faith would be a great film if about twenty minutes were hacked out of it.  His style is pretty unobtrusive (save a few odd shots during a sex scene), which may have something to do with the actor working with heavy-hitting directors like Milos Forman (The People vs. Larry Flynt), David Fincher (Fight Club) and Woody Allen (Everyone Says I Love You), the latter of whom was an obvious influence on Norton.  Faith contains plenty of shots of its characters yelling at each other on the sidewalks of New York.

Norton even casts Forman in Faith.  Has the student become the master?  Not quite, but it’s certainly a promising debut.

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