Saved! (2003)

Saved! (2003)

March 09, 2006

Cinemax Broadcast, Somerville, MA

*** ½ / ****

Saved! is the kind of movie I really, really enjoy because it is so bizarre, unique, thoughtful, and entertaining. For starters, how can you go wrong with a young cast featuring a grown-up MacCaulay Culkin playing a teenage wheel chair bound rebel, Mandy Moore as spoiled princess Hilary Faye (great name!), Heather Matarazzo (AKA Dawn Wiener, AKA Wiener-dog from the outstanding Welcome to the Dollhouse) as her happy-to-be-plucked-from-nerdom second, and the always reliable Jena Malone in the starring role as a troubled teen trying to make her way in an overtly Christian regimented high school? Galantly, I proclaim, you cannot, especially given that the young thespians seem right at home playing parochial students in this outstanding coming-of-age achievement. And dare I not forget Joseph Arthur’s In the Sun, one of my favorite tunes ever, which perfectly accompanies a multi-character montage just before the film’s conclusion.

Not since Welcome to the Dollhouse have I viewed a teenage comedy/drama this interesting. Certainly there must be others, but Saved! has enchanted me in a way few others have. Propelled by its outstanding cast, Saved! is the story of youths finding their way in the always trying, always turbulent high school years. Like Dollhouse, Saved! rises above similar high-school themed fare by side-stepping typical cliché with its characters building them as multi-faceted, confused, and adolescent. At one moment they are mean, cruel, and thoughtless, and the next warm, kind-hearted, and gentle. There are underlying patterns to their behavior, but that writer/director Brian Dannelly chooses to portray them as waffling children all equally confused about God’s place in their lives makes them truly flawed and real. They bicker with one another, break hearts, patch up old wounds, and in general act like typical self-obsessed teenagers. Even with God in their lives, and of course, J.C., as the movie calls him (AKA Jesus Christ, AKA “Let’s get our Jesus on”), these teens are always at war with each other and most tellingly, themselves.

The conflicted feelings of the characters are intensified because of the religious doctrine taught at American Eagle Christian High School. Christian ideals are forced upon them and guilt, that master of bending wills, is front and center in their consciences. This, of course, leads to the youngsters rebelling, some through smoking and drinking, others through sex, and still others through trying to become that perfect Christian ideal. But as the movies have always taught us, there is always darkness lying just below the glowing exterior. That darkness is neither good nor evil, but rather, as the film finally concludes, human nature.

While watching this religious satire I found it hard to decide how to appropriately react to the on-screen shenanigans, heart-break, preaching, and message and thus probably reacted in the “wrong” way as often as I did the “right” way. Now that may seem silly, thinking about controlling something out of our control such as reactions, but the awkwardness that arose from me during the viewing of this film is essential to explaining its greatness.

So the question becomes, how should I have reacted to all this Jesus talk? One moment we’re led to believe the Christian doctrine perpetuated by the school’s principal, Pastor Skip (a wonderful performance by Martin Donovan) should be questioned and the next we’re led to believe he really does have his students best interests at heart. At times Pastor Skip preaches one thing and then practices another, not out of spite or malice or even greed, but instead because of his inability to rectify right and wrong within himself and the eyes of God. Pastor Skip believes in the words of the Bible, but even he, in his dictatorial position, seems capable of flaw and misappropriation. Is it any wonder his students are so confused given their Shepard is having as much difficulty as they are trying to right his actions with his mantra?

Even the movie’s heroes, Culkin and his girlfriend Cassandra (a tough yet tender Eva Amurri), who plays the school’s “only Jewish,” have to admit there is something to the words of Jesus and not merely as a source for their seemingly unlimited mockery. Their lascivious attitudes about intercourse may not be nearly as harmful as the school’s dogma would like them to believe, but that it sometimes manifests in cruelty toward others and their own views is equally damning. The movie, in a nice touch, seems to walk the line between turning its nose at the various viewpoints and blindly accepting their opposites, a perfect solution to the tough questions and very personal and important decisions it proposes to both its characters and its audience.

It is no surprise that this movie never found much of an audience. Its material is tricky in that Christians will most likely despise it as condescending rubbish while those who laugh at the mockery would probably groan at its tenderness. I found it neither offensively cruel or foolishly tender and applaud its complex subtleties. To me, Saved! is an intelligent, funny, and entertaining high school dramatic comedy tour de force unlike most other coming-of-age stories. I am not sure who would really enjoy this film but I am quite certain most would find themselves reacting in ways they might not expect. And for me, those unexpected reactions often make for the best movie experiences.

Additional Notes:

If you liked Election you might enjoy Saved!

The movie was filmed in Canada with excellent suburban neighborhood exteriors.

Eva Amurri is the daughter of Susan Sarandon and Franco Amurri.