This film won't change the world, but it is very sweet and smart and has very likeable characters, and it's not the least bit cynical, which is a welcome change for a modern movie.
Jake Schramm (Ben Stiller) is a rabbi, his friend since childhood, Brian Finn (Ed Norton) is a priest. They team up occasionally on community projects. Then another childhood friend, Anna Riley (Jenna Elfman) that they have lost touch with since she moved to California, moves back to New York for work and they all reconnect. Except they were children when they last all met, and now Anna is a beautiful intelligent young woman. They are both attracted. There is an awkward attempt to set Jack up with a woman that does not work out. Then Jack turns up at Anna's apartment and they begin an affair that they both keep secret, because they think it would be "weird" for everyone involved. The problem is that Jack would hurt his career as a rabbi if he married outside of his faith, and then there is his mother (Ann Bancroft) who would likely drum him out of the family like she did to Jack's older brother when he married a girl who was not Jewish.. Also, Anna is going back to California after this temporary job is over.
Meanwhile, Brian, who knows nothing about Jack and Anna's affair, is misreading all of Anna's signals - friendly embraces, short kisses, etc. as romantic interest. Plus he is interested too, and this surprises and disturbs him. This leads him to a real test of his faith. How will this all work out? Watch and find out.
I saw lots of little problems in the editing here, but that is really not what this film is about. And it is good to see a rom com where nobody is portrayed as an unlikeable stereotype and where faith is portrayed as something that should bring people together not tear them apart. With an almost unrecognizable Lisa Edelstein as a physically aggressive young woman and Jack's date from hell.
