Saved (2004)
[ARCHIVE: The first review I did in my short-lived standard format. Interestingly, I really liked the movie when I started writing, but the closer I scrutinized it, the more I found fault with it. Eventually I had to go back and revise my earlier paragraphs.]
Mary is a good little Christian child. Not perfect (that's Hilary Faye's title), but very good. She's a rising senior of good standing at American Eagle Christian High School, she has the perfect Christian boyfriend, and she's a member of the Christian Jewel, the premiere student-led praise team. Mary's life is a perfect paragon of good life through Jesus' teachings.
Until her boyfriend, Dean, comes out. And yes, this is one of those rare times that I do mean it in the gay way. So Mary, progressive Christian girl that she is, offers up her body to degayify her boyfriend and asks Jesus to restore her (spiritual) virginity.
But faith, no matter how strong, can't deny basic biological processes, like pregnancy.
What's most troubling about this movie is not its subject matter. Christianity (and faith in general) is an important part of society, always evolving. To deny investigations into the ideas and foundations of faith would be incredibly one-sided and irresponsible. Similarly, constant defamation without true analysis is the easy way out. It's easy to make fun of something for being silly when you don't try to understand it. Christian youth itself is constantly maligned as outrageous and empty-headed, often by jaded teens who can't find belief or faith in anything except entropy.
No, what is bothersome about this Saved! is the very lack of investigation. It inserts itself within a situation rife with possibilities but fails to capitalize upon it. Scene after scene we are shown how Christians are hateful, hypocritical and self-centered. But in each case, there is only one way towards being a "better person," and that's by not being Christian. Mary (played by Donnie Darko's Jena Malone) loses her faith in God, and only by putting her faith on the backburner does she begin to make real friends (who, obviously, are not very Christian at all). For a movie that preaches a philosophy of interpreting the world as a "grey area," it takes great pains to paint the world as Christian vs. non-Christian.
Hilary Faye, brought to life by the adequate Mandy Moore, is completely one-dimensional. Popular, talented, snobby, spiteful; the only deviation from the formula is that her conviction comes not from self-righteousness but Jesus-righteousness. Prerequisite rebel Cassandra (Eva Amurri) is sarcastic, worldly and smokes constantly, because she's the bad kid. But of course, she's a good person underneath, willing to help out a former member of the popular kids when she falls on hard times, despite the countless times they've made life difficult for each other. And even though it is constantly brought up, we never explore Judaism, her given religion. Instead, she acts more like an atheist than anything.
Which is not to say that there aren't great performances that save (haha) this otherwise dull movie. We can only thank the Lord (and the casting director) for the inclusion of Patrick Fugit and Macaulay Culkin. Yeah, I never thought I'd say that last one either. Fugit, best known for his staring role in Almost Famous brings the same wit and charm to... Patrick, the skateboarding, Vespa-driving son-of-a-preacher-man (A song which is glaringly absent from this movie). Overflowing with charm (and a great wardrobe), Patrick the character is great on screen, a kid who's faith has been tempered by his experiences. It's a shame that, with the exception of one scene with his father, we are only exposed to him as the love interest.
Culkin, on the other hand, comes to the part almost untested as a young adult actor. He plays Roland, the "differently-abled" brother of Hilary Faye, with an earnest and professionalism people will be quite surprised to see that he possesses. Easily the most likable character in the movie, he is sidelined like Patrick and not given much time to shine (an injustice, considering he is saddled with such a disgustingly patronizing name). We get a glimmer of his depth near the end of the movie, but by then it's time for the quick-wrap up and we get the final answer before we really want it. In what is probably the best scene of the movie, Culkin does an impromptu wheelchair-bound dance while panhandling for kicks. It's not a visual that can be done justice with words alone.
Despite the reasonably talented cast, the film is too interested in denouncing the extreme actions of Christians to model any of its characters with depth or exploration. It's funny to me that the topic of representing Christianity accurately is constantly brought up in publicity, because it's misleading. Yes, contemporary Christian music does sound exactly like secular music, and yes there are kitchy t-shirts that spoof other brand labels in the name of the Lord. But it's a superficial represenation, a hollow apple without a core. There are Christian kids out there who are genuinely good people, and for all the right reasons. But Saved! isn't interested in exploring what it means to be Christian in a post-modern world. It's only goal is to explain why not-so-Christian people are better than Christians. And because of that, faith is misrepresented as just another popularity-driven club.
This should have been a great movie that people would be raving about. But as it is, it's just an okay movie worth a few (genuine, but infrequent) laughs. No, like the pulpit-beaters, there is a distinct message to get across, and it shall be, even at the expense of the film's quality.
2 (out of five)
This movie is Rated PG-13
