Saved!
Reviewed by Rich Drees

     Senior year for Mary (Jena Malone) is not turning out the way she had thought it would. Just prior to returning to school, a private high school for born again Christians, she's told by her boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust) that he may be gay. Following seeing a vision of Jesus in her pool during a near drowning and desperate to save his soul, she decides to sleep with to lead him back to heterosexuality. It doesn't work and his parents, upon discovering his inclination, send Dean off to Mercy House, a place that takes in gays and unwed mothers. As Mary's friend Patrick observers, "Mercy House doesn't really exist for the people that go there, but for the people who send them."

     Back at school, she falls in back in with her friend Hillary Faye (Mandy Moore) and the clique-ish "Christian Jewels" a group of girls who use their good works and piety to elevate themselves to the most popular girls in school. When Mary finds that she is pregnant from her one encounter with Dean, she soon begins to question what God wants from her in life. This crisis of faith is met with horror by Hillary Faye who kicks Mary out of the Christian Jewels. Mary soon begins to hang out with Cassandra, a Jewish girl who's been kicked out of every other high school in the area and Roland (a scene stealing Macaulay Culkin), Hillary Faye's wheelchair bound brother who has begun dating Cassandra. Together the three try to keep each other sane and hide Mary's pregnancy from those around them.

     At its core, Saved! Is nothing more than your typical high school teen comedy. Hillary Faye and her "Christian Jewels" are nothing more than a disguised version of the typical pretty, popular and snobbish girl clique that populate these films, only with Hillary's drive to be a one woman salvation machine as the excuse to look down on others and make herself feel good about herself. There's the love triangle between Mary, Hillary and Patrick. Of course the film's climax is set at the spring prom where secrets are revealed, the antagonists get the comeuppance and mostly everyone learns a valuable lesson about life.

     The problem with Saved! is that the film can't decide if it wants to be a satire about religion or a comedy about characters who are religious. Mary is a well-defined and believable teenager who suddenly finds herself at odds with the environment of faith that she was raised in. Hillary, however, comes off as more of a satirization of someone whose piety is more about themselves than being about actual faith in action. Moore's portrayal is at times over the top and feels out of place with the rest of the characters but whether that's the fault if the actress, the screenplay or a little bit of both is hard to say.

     The screenplay, co-written by the film’s director Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban, does manage some good satirical jabs. Mary and Hillary Faye discuss their problems at the Emmanuel Shooting Range, which features the slogan "An eye for an eye." Later in the film, Hillary Faye screams, "I am filled with Christ's love" as she throws a Bible at the back of Mary's head. The school's principal, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan) starts off school assemblies with quasi-hip shouts of "G-O-D is the house!" and "Let's get our 'Christ' on!" When Mary is spotted by Roland and Cassandra leaving Planned Parenthood, Cassandra asks " What's the one reason why Christian girls go to Planned Parenthood?" to which Roland answers "She's planting a pipe bomb?" Unfortunately, the script seems to back away from any real deep satirical cuts. There are a few moments though of unwieldy sledgehammer subtly. The bearded contract worker who saves Mary from drowning while providing her with a vision of Jesus can be seen sawing lumber in the background just moments before the accident. Only those who have not seen a movie within the last 30 years will be surprised by the revelation whom actually spray painted curse words on the school for Mary and Cassandra to be blamed for or to figure out how the situation will resolve itself. While the film does make some points about following the rules of one's faith rather than living one's faith, its non-commitment to a specific tone and an ending that's too pat and conventional, never fully allows Saved! to outgrow its teen comedy roots and live up to its potential of becoming the religious satire it wants to be.