Review of Saved (2009) by Hugo S — 19 Dec 2008

SAVED! (2004).

Directed by Brian Dannelly.

Starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Eva AmurriSaved! is a gentle satire about a bunch of kids going to a Christian school. Its never offensive and has some pretty good insight about religion and the message is ultimately optimistic and open.It all begins with Mary, the always cute Jena Malone, who finds out her boyfriend is gay. She asks Jesus's help and figure maybe with sex she'll save him. Losing her viginity before marriage is a sin but she hopes it'll work, its naive but she has good intentions. She ends up being pregnant. In the meantime, Hilary Faye, a very good Mandy Moore as an extremely hardcore Christian and Mary's best friend tries to save a Jewish girl, played by Susan Sarandon's daughter. She falls for Hilary Faye's brother, who happens to be in a wheelchair and played by Macaulay Culkin. The Jewish girl is the only one who notices that Mary is pregnant and they become friends. Hilary Faye loses her firend and her brother and even the guy she has a crush on prefers Mary. Oh well, who cares about that plot that I made sound more confusing than anything else.Saved! is a sweet teen comedy with some surprisingly layered characters. Its not pretentious at all and has jsut the right amount of ambitions. Its funny at times and even moving when it needs to be. The entire cast is great. Mandy Moore proves she is more than a singer wanting to be an actress, she is an actress, too bad she hasnt chosen the right projects since. Jena Malone has charisma and its a wonder we dont see her more often. The Home Alone kid is equal to himself and Eva Amurri, Susan Sarandon's daughter proves she has as much talent as her mom.In the end, the message that Saved! is trying to express is a good one, saying that religion doesnt have to be taken too much by the book, you take what you need from it and thats how you'll be happy. I think its a pretty fair message and Im not even religious, I dont think it should be offensive to anyone who believes more than I do eitehr. It touches many mroe themes though, and they are all valuable and insightfully explored. This is a well-made comedy.