Saved! (2004)

Watching over-the-top US comedy Saved! is like stumbling into an alternate universe as perturbing, in its own way, as Richard Kelly's cult hit Donnie Darko.

At American Eagle Christian High School, where Christian is all there is, it's the zealots who top the teen totem pole. Among them is Mary (Jena Malone) who's headed for a fabulous senior year with her best friend and leader of the Christian Jewels, Hilary-Faye (Mandy Moore), a mulleted gun-toting Barbie drowning in blue eye shadow. But when Mary falls pregnant to her gay boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust) after surrendering her virginity to save him in the belief it will be miraculously restored, she's an outcast. While Chad's sent off to Mercy House, Mary befriends the 'freaks': Hilary-Faye's wheelchair-bound brother (Macaulay Culkin) and his troublemaker girlfriend Cassandra (Eva Amurri), the only Jewish girl in school. Meanwhile, Mary's Christian Interior Decorator of the Year mum (Mary-Louise Parker) begins a tentative romance with charismatic school principal Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan).

Director Brian Dannelly, who co-wrote the script with Michael Urban, wanted to satirise the intensity of teen Christian worship, where fainting at prayer meetings is not uncommon. Performances are good across the board, but Mandy Moore almost steals the film with her outrageous Hilary-Faye.

Saved! is an enjoyable teen comedy that has some important subtexts: it argues for tolerance of diversity, and the importance of looking beneath the superficial when choosing friends. It embraces families that differ from the traditional nuclear model and demonstrates why sex education is needed. But what's best about Saved! is that the characters don't abandon their faith, simply incorporate it into a more tolerant world view. Whether you're a Christian, atheist or something different, Saved! will gently amuse without overwhelming you with political correctness.

Fmovies: As satires go, this is a pretty fluffy one. The script feels like it was written by someone who believes in God and wants to gently chastise and mock self-righteous born agains in hopes that they will see the error of their ways and acknowledge the hypocrisy of damning everyone to hell who deviates from their narrow world view.

Vat chance for that, but it is a likable, funny movie. There's not much in the way of story, but the characters are likable and there are some good performances, most surprisingly by Macauley Culkin, who apparently has taken some acting classes somewhere along the way. Mandy Moore is also quite entertaining as the most self-righteous Christian of the bunch (and I like her singing of the song over the opening credits - I think sh'es a professional singer, isn't she?) While a bit more bite and a bit more story would have made a better movie, this one is quite pleasant and worth watching.

Saved! is one of this year's best movies. It is a movie showing some hypocrisy of some Christians. It's not pointing out the flaws of Christianity, but the hypocrisy of some Christians.

In the beginning, we are introduced to Mary (Jena Malone) who is a good Christian. Her boyfriend confesses to her underwater that he is gay. Upon hearing this, Mary tries to get back to the top, but hits her head on the ladder (Ouch!). While she is unconscious, she has a vision where Jesus tells her to help Dean. Mary takes this message the wrong way and winds up getting pregnant. She turns her back on her clique and is utterly friendless, although Patrick (Patrick Fugit) tries to ask her out on dates and stuff. She finds friends in the most unlikely of persons - outcasts. It turns out the only "sane" people are the outcasts.

I enjoyed this movie very much. I loved Jena Malone, she is beautiful and her acting was awesome! I find it funny that the roles of Cassandra and Hilary Faye were switched. Cassandra was cruel and evil and Hilary was the perfect Christian. As the movie plays out, the roles switch where Cassandra has a heart of gold and is compassionate, while Hilary has a heart of hatred, evil, and greed. The jokes in this movie were subtle, but I laugh at those parts. I think the most hilarious part is when she goes up to the cross and says "Shit" which was quite random, but it did make sense after she said "Goddamn" because she was expecting an intervention of some sort.

10/10. Beautiful movie. I've seen it 8 times in a week already. The music for this movie is incredible.

Saved! fmovies. Saved is very funny satire/comedy-drama on whacked-out Christian fundamentalists.

Basically at a Christian High-School (which is about as narrow-minded, hypocritical and contradicting as my own was) there is this clique of girls called the 'Christian Jewels', which are not to dissimilar from 'The Plastics' in Mean Girls. Every girl wants to be a part of the Jewels, including geeky, desperate Tia (Heather Matarazazazazazo rehashing her role from Welcome to the Dollhouse). I would find her attractive if she hadn't dyed her hair an unconvincing blonde. Too bad she's er...married.

After earning her way into this clique Mary (Jena Malone) is devastated when her boyfriend confesses his massive gayness. Eager to 'cure' him of this ungodly condition Mary offers up her virginity to him, only to get pregnant. Obviously this bun in the oven secret threatens to tear everyone's flimsy little world apart.

Hilary Faye, the leader of the Christian Jewels is appalled at Mary's sudden lack of faith and makes it her mission to save her, whatever the method or cost. Obviously Mary doesn't appreciate this and it only drives her to further isolation.

Saved is superior to Mean Girls in terms of relevance and wit. Though I'm afraid the target audience will no doubt pass this over in favor for Miss Lohan as discussion of God and the lack of pink will fail to attract as young an audience.

The acting is great. Jena Malone is more of an actress than Lohan/Duff, Macaulay Culkin was effective as the wheelchair-bound Roland, Mandy Moore is so innocently evil as Hilary Faye she makes Regina George look timid and Eva Amurri is like so totally gorgeous! Seriously! Wow! Too bad she smokes. NEXT!

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Saved to anyone. It's funny and clever and outdoes all 'teen-comedies' by transcending the genre. A rarity indeed.

This movie was fantastic. For those who have ever attended a Christian school, this hits all of the daily ironies that made those four years interesting. If you never have been in a Christian school, it adds a unique portrayal of the rigid nature of religion while confronting current controversial issues. I saw for the first time in the theater and could not stop laughing, so much so I had to buy it the minute it came out. One of my absolute favorite things about this movie was seeing the actors and actresses play roles contrary to their usual choices. Mandy Moore is superb and truly understands the role of Hillary Faye. I love this movie and recommend to anyone that can handle new forms of humor.

I saw the trailers for this movie a looooong time ago and was very interested to see it, though I never got around to it. Now I've finally watched it and I'm happy that I did. In my view, this is essentially a movie about some of the issues with fundamentalism - it's not a complete panning of the Christian faith at all, let's get that straight!

I think everyone in the movie filled their roles particularly well, especially Mandy Moore as the obsessive Hilary Faye. Jena Malone grows on me more and more every time I see her, and this time was no exception. She was good in her small role in Contact, which I have to say I liked a bit more. Macaulay Culkin was also surprisingly good in his role - I didn't see "The Guy that was Kevin", but rather I saw is character. Some of the stuff he did and said was very funny too, like much of this movie.

My issue would be that the film pansies out a little at the end. To get me, you'd really have to watch it yourself. Just when you think the film might be going a certain direction, it turns back on itself to cover it's own behind.

Overall, entertaining and funny with good performances overall. More Jena Malone please.