Saved!

Kathy and I saw Saved! the other night. You know, the high-school comedy set in the Born-Again Christian high school? And (not coincidentally), the movie playing in air-conditioned theaters around the country? Yeah, cooling off was our main goal (never did install the A/C, and with the move a week away, it seems like a waste of effort), but it turned out to be a darn fine movie.

Basically, the story begins when our heroine (Jena Malone) discovers that her boyfriend thinks he’s gay. A convenient bump on the head gets her to think that Jesus wants her to sleep with him to set him… er, straight. Soon afterward, comedy ensues. What’s interesting about the film is how it starts off with almost everyone seeming like the same character – high-school fundamentalists, every one – but as you get to know them, they all add more facets to their personality. It’s well cast, including MacCaulay Culkin as one of the supporting characters, and while he looks almost eerily pale (which might have been intentional for his role), he did a mighty good job. Patrick Fugit and the damn cute Eva Amurri also do great work. And Mandy More eats up the role of the bitchy queen of the clique.

Religion is very real to these people, and the moral and ethical problems they confront must be viewed through that lens, sometimes making hard choices even more difficult. It’s a source of conflict as well as comfort. What’s refreshing about the movie is that it doesn’t present the Born-Again characters as a counterpoint to other viewpoints – almost everyone in the movie shares the same faith (although some are more devout than others). This gives the characters the space to have personalities – in many other movies, being religious is the only personality trait a character gets.

One thing that struck me about Saved! was its underlying theme of forgiveness. Even Moore’s character – who does something pretty reprehensible – gets forgiven at the end. It’s a good message, and one that might elude a lot of critics who only react to the surface of the movie – what they think it will be, rather than what it is.

Rob