Der Schein-Heilige

There is a depth of performance here, with a well-written script and a joyous celebration of con men. The role is an unusual one for Martin, who plays it straight and yet satirizes the character at the same time. Martin has never been better (OK, his hair could use work) and Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovitch and Liam Neeson lead a strong supporting cast. It also captures the small town American scene well. It's a high-tech revival show, starring Jonas Nightengale, faith healer and preacher. "Leap of Faith" is the first movie to reveal the actual methods used by some revivalists and faith healers to defraud their unsuspecting congregations.

at least 7 of 10 stars

Jonas Nightengale (Steve Martin) is a fake faith healer leading his traveling circus with Jane Larson (Debra Winger), Hoover (Meat Loaf), Matt (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Tiny (M.C. Gainey) and others. They use all the tricks in the book to con people of their money. One of their trucks breaks down in hard-luck desolate town of Rustwater, Kansas. Jonas decides to 'play' the town and get the girl, waitress Marva (Lolita Davidovich). The town sheriff Will Braverman (Liam Neeson) is determined to get rid of the fraud while Jane keeps flirting with him. Boyd (Lukas Haas) is Marva's cripple brother.

I can see why some would downgrade this for its perceived bias against the religious. This is probably one of Steve Martin's deepest characters. There is depth in this movie and compelling characters. It's not really much of a comedy but it works well as a drama. If this was made with darkness, it could be a truly great movie. Director Richard Pearce doesn't have enough style.

I am becoming a huge fan of Steve Martin's, after all we have the same birthday ;), no, I'm having fun, but I love his movies. My mom is also a huge fan and has a lot of Steve Martin movies, the next on my list of flicks to watch was Leap of Faith. She said it was an alright film, but it was always worth a watch. So I finally sat down tonite and watched it and over all, I'd say that this was a nice and honest film to watch that can touch anyone's heart.

Jonas is a con man going from town to town claiming he is a miracle preacher, Jane, his sidekick, just finds out information about the town and Jonas acts like he knows everything by miracle. Of course he and his team just take the money and run after a couple days. But when Jonas realizes the town's good nature, he starts to feel bad and falls for a waitress with a crippled brother. But things start to happen when the town's faith grows stronger and miracles really do happen.

I would recommend Leap of Faith for an afternoon of nothing to do, I think that it is an under rated cute little movie that could make you have a leap of faith for anything. Steve Martin isn't really funny in this film, but I think Leap of Faith actually showed his dramatic talents pretty well, he's awesome.

6/10

All good comedians, are good drama actors.

It'd been a while since I saw this movie, and I had the chance to get it, yesterday. For starters, Steve Martin was great (as he usually does), so the supporting cast.

One of the many reasons I love this movie is that it show us, graciously, a reality that many people couldn't or wouldn't accept (One of the reasons , I think, its low rate).

Do not let fanaticism cloud your judgment.

Nevertheless, if you like good stories with a nice in-message, or if you're just a fan of Mr. Martin, you can't miss this one.

Steve Martin's actually acting in this movie! Off course he's still in his frame act, but the good thing is, the script demanded his style, and nobody could do it better than him.

Watch when he preaches, when he dance and sing, when he talks, even when he's lost. And seemingly the other casts (Debra Winger, Meat Loaf, Liam Neeson, Lolita Davidovich, etc.) open their way to expand Martin's performance in this movie.

The movie itself is light and enjoyable, one of the best movie on it's genre.

A perfect holiday movie.