Edward Norton is probably blessed, which is just as well because he plays a priest in this film. Not only able to be so versatile as an actor that he almost reinvents himself on-screen, he has kick-started his directing career with a romantic comedy, thereby confounding all expectations. And, as with all his on-screen work, he performs off-screen really well.

"Keeping the Faith" is a mature, witty, resonant romp through the relationship between three childhood friends (two boys and a girl) who are reunited in adult life as a love-triangle which recalls films as diverse as "Jules et Jim" and "Broadcast News". The two boys, Brian and Jake, have never lost touch, one having become a priest (Edward Norton), the other a rabbi (Ben Stiller). Both are linked in fashionable spiritual endeavours like a Jewish-Catholic karaoke centre (honestly). The girl, Anna (Jenna Elfman), has flown New York, only to return as a switched-on, sexy corporate executive who (a non-Jew) finally falls for Jake, but is doted on by Brian. In dramatic terms, she is the classic outsider who disrupts the status quo and, in this case, causes the two successful professionals to question their comfortable assumptions, particularly about themselves.

Norton, Stiller and Elfman (who here emerges as a front-line star) all really take to three full roles and so let authentic characters emerge even in the midst of a slightly fantastic romantic comedy. Moreover, they all display natural comic instincts, which is fine and dandy because many scenes depend on amusing situations and witty dialogue. All of them, as well as the serious, thoughtful interludes, are beautifully paced by Norton the director. The agony of love has rarely looked so funny.