Saved!

Genre: Dark, teen comedy

I went into Saved! with high hopes, and I wasn’t disappointed in the least. The story revolves around a Christian high school in the Midwest and a wonky cast of characters including a religious fanatic—well, the most fanatical of them, anyway—Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), the much more human Mary (Jena Malone), as well as Hilary Faye’s younger disabled brother Roland (Macaulay Culkin).

Hilary Faye’s core group of friends call themselves the “Christian Jewels”…a group of young ladies who sing and play praise music at their school, paint very large Jesuses for the front lawn, and hold prayer meetings for their hellion classmates. While Hilary Faye and her brand of crazy-needs-to-lead-a-revival-in-a-tent play a large part in the film, the real star is Jena Malone who gives a sensitive performance as Mary, the “normal” one in the bunch. When Mary is confronted with the fact that her boyfriend might be gay, she knocks herself out on a pipe in the pool, has a vision of Jesus, and then decides that the only way to save her boyfriend from fiery torment in the pits of hell is to sleep with him to convince him that he’s not gay. Don’t worry…these aren’t spoilers. After that, all hell breaks loose (no pun intended).

I was curious if Saved! would come across as an attack on Christians, but I was pleased that, in my opinion, it does not. It very pointedly attacks those who take religious fervor to a level at which the follower begins to lose sight of the true meaning behind their religion, thus alienating, hurting, and judging those around them. Good example: Hilary Faye and the other Jewels try to pull an impromptu exorcism on Mary. ‘Nuff said.

My only complaint about this film would be the lack of balance between the crazy Christians and the loving, forgiving atheists. When Mary finds herself faced with a most pressing problem that challenges her faith and her standing among her friends and classmates, Roland and Cassandra (the one Jewish girl in school that Hilary Faye is hell bent on saving…played by Eva Amurri) are the only two to embrace her, thus painting the non-Christians as the good guys and the fanatical fundamentalists as the bad guys. There’s only one example of an even-keel, loving, accepting, normal Christian—the son of a pastor and the school’s new principal. The film makes a pointed observation, but one that was a little too black and white for my taste. There are good and bad communion wafers in every box. Hey, it’s a better analogy than apples in a bunch, right?

Characterization aside, the acting in this movie was fantastic and deliciously over-the-top. I have 180% more respect for Mandy Moore as an actress now. She plays an impeccable nutcase. Jena Malone’s acting talent is no big surprise since she’s consistently picked great roles and played them well. McCauley Culkin and Eva Amurri (Susan Sarandan's daughter, by the way) add to this film exponentially; without their performances it’d be just another rent-and-forget.

I give Saved! one-and-a-half thumbs up. Go rent it and then come back to agree or disagree with me.