Yates, Christen B. (2004) A review of the movie, Saved!  cCYS.

 

CAST & CREW

Director:               Brian Dannelly (feature film debut)

Screenwriter(s):    Brian Dannelly & Michael Urban (feature film debut)

Cinematographer: Bobby Bukowski (Boogeyman,

Arlington Road

)

Actors:                 Jena Malone (Mary)

 

                            Mandy Moore (Hilary Faye)

 

                            Macaulay Culkin (Roland)

 

                            Patrick Fugit (Patrick) 

 

                            Martin Donovan (Pastor Skip)

 

                            Mary-Louise Parker (Mary’s mom)

 

                            Eva Amurri (Cassandra)

                            Chad

Faust (Dean)

 

Studio:                 United Artists

Release Date:        May 28, 2004 (limited)

 

 

OVERVIEW

 

Contemporary Fundamentalism is an easy and worthy target for a comic satire. The hypocrisy and self-righteousness of many in the camp rightly deserves a little mocking humor. While Saved! will likely inspire some interesting discussions with teens about religious fundamentalism and Christian faith today, the film, by newby screenwriter Brian Dannelly, falls short of the mark of being a truly thoughtful and carefully crafted satire.

 

The plot follows along the lives of a group of teens at a Christian high school in upper, middle-class America

. Good Christian girl Mary (Jena Malone) finds herself pregnant after feeling “called by God” to lose her “True Love Waits”-stamped virginity in order to save her boyfriend from becoming gay and thus being outlawed by the community. Mary’s popular and Bible-thumping best friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) shuns her as she sees Mary back-sliding. Meanwhile, Hilary Faye is adamant in converting the wild Jewish girl Cassandra (Eva Amurri) who's hooking up with Hilary’s wheelchair-bound brother Roland (Macaulay Culkin). By the end, Mary's secret is revealed and Hilary Faye has gone to extremes to get the outsiders expelled from school. During the climax scene, Mary chides the cast not to see religion as black and white and to be more tolerant of ones self and others.  

 

The two biggest failures of this comedy are its overly clichéd caricatures and its wanton sexual reductionism in nearly every character and situation. Good satire needs more nuanced, subtle and clever twists of real-life people and events to stand above the rest. Dannelly’s film, however, seems to have been written by a sex-crazed, pubescent school-boy poking fun at the Christian fundamentalists and asking the banal and relativistic question in the end, “Can’t we all just get along?” As Christians, we should be able to laugh at (and lament!) a good satire depicting the failures of many fundamentalists to live with integrity and humility and who have morphed God to fit into their personal image and desires. However, Dannelly’s poor screenplay gets in the way of this attempt, offering only a second-rate comedy and a watered-down, liberal theology in the end.

 

 

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION & DISCUSSION

1. What experience have you had with fundamentalist Christians? Where did the term originate and what are the strengths of fundamentalism? What are its weaknesses?
2. Where is the place for satire in Christian faith? What are some examples of good satire?
3. If you liked this film, what were the strengths you saw?
4. How might you lead a discussion with teens after viewing this film?

 

 

IMPLICATIONS

• While the film is found wanting as a satisfying satire, it remains a great tool to spark discussion with teens about religious fundamentalism, tolerance, hypocrisy and faith.

 

Christen B. Yates. Copyright, CYS.