An interfaith movie that gives you faith in movies, Keeping the Faith is both actor Edward Norton's directing debut and a fine two hours' worth of comic yet thoughtful entertainment. Norton stars as a Catholic priest opposite Ben Stiller, who plays his best friend, a rabbi.

God and the screenplay move in mysterious ways when Anna (Jenna Elfman), the Gentile girl they both hung out with in 8th grade, moves back to Manhattan 16 years later. Stiller is up for a promotion at his synagogue, but his congregation expects him to find a nice Jewish girl and get married. Norton, in keeping with tradition in his line of work, has taken a vow of celibacy. Never heavy-handed and frequently laugh-out-loud funny, this is an old-fashioned movie in the best sense of the word.

Along with two other films at this year's festival - Two Family House and Liberty Heights - it's also a movie that tackles issues of race and religion in an appealing humanistic context.

Norton has had an enviable career from the very start. Asked whether the Actors Studio "Method" has been part of his approach to his roles in Primal Fear, The People vs Larry Flynt, Rounders, Everyone Says I Love You or this, Norton admits, "I auditioned for te Actors Studio twice and I was rejected both times. Dustin Hoffman told me that he auditioned for them SEVEN times and was rejected. But after he made The Graduate, the Actors Studio called him up and invited him to join. And he said, 'F--k off - I don't need you anymore.'"

Even if Norton doesn't employ the Method, some Method molecules are probably glomming on to him by osmosis during his current filming with Robert De Niro and Marlon Brando. "It's been wonderful so far," says Norton. "It's a thriller. It's not a very profound piece. But with people like that you often do it just for the poster. It's a heist movie. Bob and I are thieves and Brando is the fence."

Norton says he's a big fan of French cinema, particulalry Truffaut's Jules and Jim. "I've seen most of Truffaut's films and most of Godard's films. I loved Jean-Paul Belmondo in Le Doulos. When you're in college, Belmondo is ultra-cool."

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