Director: Brian Dannelly
Starring: Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit, Heather Matarazzo, Eva Amurri, Martin Donovan, Mary-Louise Parker

- Reviewed by Linda

Introduced by the filmmakers as "Mean Girls meets The Passion of the Christ", Saved! is a wicked (in more ways than one) comedy that is sure to appall as many people as it delights. Well, I'll let you make your own judgements when I say that the film made me guffaw with its sharp, anti-conservative-Christian humor.

And I say, "It's about time!" The last time that a film dared to be so pointy towards the always hot-and-bothered (and very vocal) Christian Right was the comedy Citizen Ruth (which used an unwed, gas-huffing single pregnant woman as the catalyst of a fight between self-congratulating pro-lifers, and overly-righteous pro-choicers... check it out!).

In the setting of a American Christian high school, Saved! pokes fun at Young-Life type Christian youth groups, overly "hip" pastors that are "down" with the kids (with Pastor Skip played by the always fab Martin Donovan), Christian pop music (with a great assembly scene featuring Mandy Moore singing her praises to Jesus), and even some Christians' method of helping students with problems (like homosexuality and pregnancy) by abruptly sending them away to be "cured."

And in the center of the storm is the aptly named Mary (Jena Malone), who finds out her perfect ice-skating boyfriend is gay, so tries to cure him by having sex with him—and of course gets pregnant. There's a funny moment where Pastor Skip give the high school seniors their first sex ed talk, as poor Mary writhes in the back of the classroom, realizing her bad fate of finding out the facts of life, too little too late.

In the meantime, Mary's friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore, all blonde and pretty in a sort of overly-perfect sinister way) takes it upon herself to set up prayers circles for Mary's gay boyfriend (who has been sent away), the school's token Jewish girl (the wonderfully rebellious Eva Amurri), and then for Mary herself, who has been acting kinda surly and stand-offish lately. Hilary Faye, pounding her fist on the Bible in Jesus' name, is a one-woman rescue mission to stomp the goodness of Jesus into the heathens. She even brings a new meaning to "throwing the Book at someone" (which was one of my favorite scenes).

Now, if any of this is making you a bit uncomfortable, well, that is why dark comedy is so enjoyable. The jokes are meant to go a bit too far, so I'm sure a chunk of the audience will go "yowch!" to some of the jokes (even I did!). But by using the classic teen-movie formula (friends turn on each other, the outcasts are the cool people, the mean girl finds a heart at the end) Saved!, in the best teen-comedy tradition, still has a touchy-feely message. You CAN have Jesus in your heart, while still be accepting and tolerant of other people's less-than-perfect lives.

Yes, Saved! mocks Christians, but it ultimately trumpets what I thought were some of the most basic tenants of the Bible: to love one another, and to judge others as they would judge you. Heck, after the heated controversy and debate surrounding The Passion, I think it sure couldn't hurt to lighten up a bit and have some fun with the topic.

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