Leap of Faith

10/17/2018

***Religious cons take advantage of the incurable human need for faith beyond the mundane*** “Leap of Faith” (1992) tackles the topic of a fraudulent traveling evangelist/faith healer played by Steve Martin. One of the trucks of his religious circus breaks down in a small town in Kansas and Jonas Nightingale (Martin) promptly takes advantage of the situation by holding a camp meeting. Debra Winger plays his assistant while Liam Neeson is on hand as the skeptical sheriff who smells a con. Lolita Davidovich plays a waitress Jonas sets his eyes on while Lukas Haas appears as her crippled brother. Jonas’ team includes the likes of Meat Loaf and Philip Seymour Hoffman. This is a drama and not a comedy and owes a bit to the likes of “The Music Man” (1962), “Dream No Evil,” (1970) “Elmer Ga