Film

Leap of Faith

Name: Leap of Faith
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Released: 1992
Cast: Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovich, Liam Neeson, Lukas Haas

Social drama

Steve Martin plays Jonas Nightengale, a carnival-slick faith healer who rolls into a drought-stricken Kansas town with hidden earpieces, fake miracles, and a genuinely dazzling stage act. It's a comedy about the machinery of belief — funny, cynical, and then, in its final stretch, unexpectedly moved by the possibility that the con might accidentally work. Good for anyone who likes their charm with a con-artist's grin.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish watching a charming con man work a crowd, and you like comedy that stays wry about belief while letting its romance mature slowly.

Skip it if you want a brisk, joke-driven comedy, since this one lingers on dusty small-town stretches and talks about faith with more seriousness than a sparkly showbiz caper would.

What it asks of you: It runs just under two hours and takes its time, with long quiet scenes that let mood and glances do the work, shifting between sly humor and melancholy.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Apostle1997

Robert Duvall's self-written, self-directed passion project is the serious cousin to Jonas Nightengale — a preacher whose faith and self-deception are tangled together so tightly neither he nor we can pull them apart.

But It's slow, devout, and asks you to sit with a genuinely troubled man rather than laugh at him.

Elmer Gantry1960

Burt Lancaster's Oscar-winning turn as a barnstorming, whiskey-voiced evangelist is basically the blueprint Steve Martin was riffing on — same tent-revival showmanship, same rot underneath.

But It's dated in pacing and doesn't have Martin's lightness of touch; this one plays it grave.

The Music Man1962

A traveling con man sells a small town a fake band and, almost against his will, starts to believe his own pitch — the same charming-fraud engine, just set to show tunes.

But It's a full-throated musical; if songs stop the plot for you, this will grate.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Leap of Faith

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Marjoe1972

This is the documentary Leap of Faith is quietly based on the atmosphere of — an actual faith-healing grifter, on camera, doing the exact routine Jonas fakes for laughs.

An Oscar-winning documentary following Marjoe Gortner, a real former child evangelist, as he goes back on the revival circuit and shows you exactly how the tricks — the fainting, the sobbing, the collection plates — actually work.

But It's real footage of real people being manipulated, and that's a much colder, sadder thing than watching Steve Martin do it.

Paper Moon1973

Depression-era grifters working small towns with a Bible-selling scam, shot in gorgeous black and white — the con-artist Americana of Leap of Faith with a father-daughter heart underneath.

But Quieter and more melancholy than you'd expect; it's a character study more than a comedy.

Matchstick Men2003

Nicolas Cage's twitchy con man believes his own patter just enough to be dangerous to himself, and the film has real fun with the mechanics of the swindle.

But The twist-heavy plotting is more thriller than the loose, hangout comedy of Leap of Faith.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?2000

The Coens' Depression-South odyssey has its own baptism-and-belief set piece and the same interest in whether faith can ambush cynics who weren't looking for it.

But Episodic and shaggy by design — if you want a tight plot, this wanders.

The Rainmaker1956

Burt Lancaster (again) as a drifter who promises a drought-broken town he can make it rain — practically the same setup as Leap of Faith, decades earlier.

But It's a stagier, more theatrical romance; the con angle is softer than you might want.

Nashville1975

Altman's sprawling portrait of performers, hustlers and true believers converging on one American town shares Leap of Faith's interest in showmanship as a kind of religion.

But It's a huge, discursive ensemble piece with no single hero to root for — patience required.

Doc Hollywood1991

A slicker outsider gets stranded in a small town and slowly, charmingly gets absorbed into its rhythms — same warm, dusty-highway Americana, minus the con.

But There's no fraud, no stakes to speak of — it's comfort food, not a companion piece in spirit.

Nightmare Alley1947

Same premise — a carnival performer weaponizing other people's need to believe — played as tragedy instead of comedy, decades before Leap of Faith existed.

A carnival mentalist perfects a fake-psychic act, starts believing his own hype, and finds out what happens when a con runs out of road — one of the great American noirs.

But This is bleak, doom-laden black-and-white noir with none of Martin's charm or comic relief.

The Righteous Gemstones2019

Same engine — showbiz preachers monetizing belief — dragged forward decades and cranked up into trashy, TV-length, family-dynasty satire.

A dynasty of wealthy, absurd televangelists run their megachurch like a mob family, in a filthy, foul-mouthed satire that takes the faith-healer racket to its greediest modern extreme.

But It's crude, sweary, and mean-spirited by design — nothing like the warmth Leap of Faith allows itself in the end.