Saved! is a religious satire in which a group of high school kids learn the hard way what it really means to be “saved.” A group of religiously devout teenagers have nothing but the best intentions when making a series of bad choices in order to please Jesus. The seemingly clever premise of this indie flick would spur any biblically aware individual to run to the nearest theater for some good-natured entertainment. Unfortunately, not even the qualified young cast who play students at American Eagle High School could “save” this poorly scripted film.
Mary (Jena Malone), Roland (Macaulay Culkin), Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), Tia (Heather Matarazzo), Patrick (Patrick Fugit), and Cassandra (Eva Amurri) are seniors at a Christian high school. The appropriately named American Eagle High School parallels the trendy clothing company with the nauseatingly stylish “Christian Jewels” who dominate the social scene at the college-preparatory facility. The head honcho of the Jewels, Hilary Faye, is called by her full name throughout the film, giving a sense of bubble-gummy celebrity to the popular Christ lover like only a concise, catchy name can (ahem, “Mandy Moore“).
Moore is not the only actor bearing a slight resemblance to her character: Fugit didn’t even have to bother changing his name for the film! Perhaps keeping his name represents how his character Patrick has barely changed from Fugit‘s leading roles in Almost Famous and White Oleander. With a mere six films under his belt, four of which were major motion pictures, Patrick Fugit certainly has a liking for playing the misfit teenager who scores the girl of his choice. Fugit is not the only actor lacking a period of adjustment for his role in Saved!, Moore and Matarazzo team up again for roles nearly identical to theirs in 2001’s The Princess Diaries. With casting right on track, all this film lacks is a substantial script.
Jena Malone makes a laudable effort arousing sympathy from the audience with her character Mary, pregnant with the baby of gay ex-boyfriend Dean (Chad Faust) for the majority of the film. However, her character’s naïveté is almost unbearable-we are expected to sympathize with her one night of unprotected sex because Jesus came to her in a vision and told her to do it! Yeah right! I don’t buy the Virgin Mary reference for one second. Macaulay Culkin‘s long overdue return to the big screen is what drove me to the theater, but he seemed nearly incapable of muttering the few lines he was given, which often made little or no sense. Saved! makes it apparent that child star Culkin is better off Home Alone. I must admit, however, that the relationship between paraplegic Roland (Culkin) and bad-girl Cassandra was very credible and quite adorable.
It was the few funny moments such as Hilary Faye’s screaming the exclamatory “Jesus Christ!” when crashing into the school’s Jesus mascot that made the one hour and thirty minutes of Saved! bearable whatsoever. Otherwise, the film is based solely on hollow and satirical religious parallels, not to mention an insubstantial storyline. As a high school student, I can say from firsthand experience that this film in no way portrays the reality of high school. It’s just too stereotypical to take seriously.
