Saved
The Plot:
"Good girl" Mary (Jena Malone) and her popular, influential best friend, Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), are starting their senior year at the top of the social structure at American Christian High School. But when Mary finds out she’s pregnant, Hilary Faye and her devoted "disciples" turn against Mary and the school labels her an outcast. It's as an outsider, however, that Mary finds true friends – other students the school doesn't quite know what to do with. In this sweetly subversive comedy, a group of strangers band together to navigate the treacherous halls of high school and make it to graduation, ultimately learning more about themselves and finding out what it truly means to be Saved! (From Yahoo Movies)
My Thoughts: (Reviewed by Big Pun)
Where to start…well, how about with, I really loved this movie…I did…I really loved it. It exceeded any expectations I had, and I left with a smile on my face and good feelings after experiencing Saved…
What we get with Saved is a sweet, light teen comedy about a number of issues facing the youth of America…teen pregnancy, sex, drugs, religion, and just about anything else you can think of…What was unique about the movie, is that it hit these issues hard and at its core was a strong look at the world of the extreme Christian belief system…but before we delve off into a religious argument, lets break down this movie…
Like most high school teen flicks, this one follows much of the same formula…cool clique rules the school with your standard cast of characters…uber-bitch leads the pack followed by her loyal, mindless followers…super-duper weird chick who is the anti uber-cool bitch…sweet, cute girl who has major dilemma to resolve…hot, mysterious guy who is just too cool for everyone…and lets not forget our adult characters…we have single mom who is slightly overprotective but yet has her own issues going on…and principal, who in this case serves as our universal father figure type…This movie fills in every one of these roles perfectly…
The story begins on the eve of senior year at American Christian High School, where the principal proudly asks “Who’s’ down with the G O D?” at the beginning of year school assembly…main character Mary (Jena Malone) is set to start the best year of her life, good to go with her best friend, Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) and her boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust). Only problem….Dean thinks he is gay. And in telling Mary, sets off a chain of events…see in the Christian religion, being gay is a sickness, a disease…and Mary thinks that by praying to Jesus, he will guide her to the answer to this problem…she somehow rationalizes that Jesus would want her to give Dean her virginity as a gift to cure this sickness…well, she does and she believes that all is right in the world….Until…Dean’s parents find out he is gay and Mary finds out she is pregnant…a sure way out of the cool clique at our religious zealot school….
As Mary begins to come to grips with what is happening to her…she begins to question all that she has come to believe in and wish for…see, up to this point, Mary has only seen the world in black and white…the way she has been taught all her life…you know the Fire and Brimstone stuff that so many in this county preach is true…You are damned to hell for this or that…and Only Jesus can save you!....well, I don’t know about your religious beliefs, but if your like me you find these idiots more amusing than anything else…but a part of me also feels sad because I realized that although this movie was a satire of this part of Christianity, there are cooks out there who think like this…and who alienate people and live their lives in a box…overall, its sad to be that narrow minded…its also disturbing…and this movie does a great job in making you consider that point of view…
As the story comes together, it plays more and more like most teen dramas we have seen on screen…Mary in her attempt to cope with her situation, befriends the misfit crowd, who help her see that just because she is pregnant, her live isn’t over…its like you see her experiencing this whole other part of life that she had no idea existed….good old Hilary Faye’s life continues to spiral out of control as she loses grip on everything she thinks is important…and against the backdrop of this teen ridden drama, we see the two main adult characters dealing with their own grip on religion and life….
As the story tumbles and turns toward the final climax at the senior prom, my favorite part of the movie occurs…see, Mary has been chased after all movie by Patrick (played by Fugit), the ultra cool new guy who just so happens to be the principal’s son…well, the prom is where it finally all comes together for these two…we see Hilary Faye’s evil plans come to light…and the return of Dean, who was cast off to a Christian home to cure his gayness…this is where the movie is all pulled together in my opinion…when Dean and his gay friends are confronted by the principal and asked to leave the prom, the basic ideas of human kindness are called into question…and its here Pastor Skip lays it down that biblical law states in black and white that what Dean and his friends are and are doing is wrong…and its here that Patrick tells him, that it’s not about black and white….its all gray area…and no one fits in just perfect….
Hit the nail on the head…the idea that we are all to fit into this cookie cutter image physically and spiritually is the biggest bunch of horse shit going…and that’s what some of these Christian groups want to push on us….fuck that shit…hey, if God wanted it that way, then why the fuck did he make us all different?...this is why I love the movie…it hits that point home perfectly….
Outside of the story, the casting in this movie is wonderful…lots of familiar faces that do a wonderful job…Culkin is great as Hilary Faye’s little brother…Moore is tasty as the uber-Christian bitch…and Malone is warm and sweet as Mary (name appropriate in this tale)…it was also great to see Fugit on screen again….loved him in Almost Famous, one of my favorite films….Martin Donovan and Mary Louis Parker are also very strong as Pastor Skip and Mary’s mom…
This is a great change of pace movie…a wonderful turn from the big budget films sent to screen week after week in the summer months…Showing on just 592 screens nationwide, this little movie has racked in just short of 7 million in a month…I wish it could find a strong audience over the next few weeks cause it deserves it….if you get a chance, check it out now…but if not, you must see on video later this year.
Starring:
Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Chad Faust, Patrick Fugit
Directed by: Brian Dannelly
Rated PG-13