2008 Woodie Awards
Get Saved! in a dark teen comedy
Kerry Sullivan
Issue date: 10/31/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
New Relationships. Teen pregnancy. Prejudices. Disabilities. Outcasts. Snobs.
Before you write off Saved! as just another teen movie, consider its setting: American Eagle Christian High School. Saved! might follow the same old story line, but it definitely throws in some new twists.
Saved!, which boasts a cast of such popular young stars as Mandy Moore, Jena Malone, and Macaulay Culkin, follows five high school students through their tumultuous senior year at a Christian high school.
Writer and director Brian Dannelly was inspired to create Saved! after his own experience at a parochial school. He decided someone needed to bridge the gap between society's perception of Christian education and reality.
The movie opens with an introduction to the main character, Mary (Jena Malone of Stepmom), who lives with her single mother (Mary-Louise Parker of Fried Green Tomatoes). Mary, who converted to Christianity when she was in elementary school, struggles with her faith as she strives to remain a good Christian in light of her mother's relationship with her high school principal, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan), and her boyfriend's admission that he is gay.
Christian movie veteran Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) stars as Mary's best friend - the ever popular yet extremely annoying Hilary Faye. Although she means well, her holier-than-thou mentality often gets in the way of her actually doing good deeds.
Hilary Faye's brother, Roland (Macaulay Culkin), who was paralyzed when he fell out of a tree at the age of nine, is clearly the wiser and more authentic of the two siblings. He befriends bad girl Cassandra (Eva Amurri), the only "Jewish" at the high school, whose reputation and religion have caused her outcast status. As a disabled teenager, Roland can relate.
Although Saved! is extremely funny, it has been labeled a "dark comedy" because of the seriousness of some of its subject matter. Saved! addresses hurtful stereotypes, offensive character traits, and complicated issues that teens face everywhere, whether they are Christian or not.
The pressure to conform and to be the perfect Christian is a theme that follows the characters throughout their senior year.
"It's all too much to live up to. No one fits in 100% of the time," Mary says when she and her friends are criticized for their mistakes. "Why would God make us all so different if he wanted all of us to be the same?"
With hypocritical authority figures that tell the students "What you and your friends have done is not cool in the eyes of God," Saved! requires viewers to take inventory of the authenticity of their own actions.
Saved! is simultaneously poignant and hilarious. Many of us know characters like Hilary Faye, who try so hard to appear perfect and always in control, when they are really suffering on the inside. Hilary Faye sums up her disappointment with the statement:
"This is not how I wanted to remember my prom. This is not how I wanted to remember my life."
Assuming you aren't too easily offended, Saved! is a movie I would recommend to any student at Assumption. It may seem like just another teen movie on the surface, but it is actually a powerful statement on human nature.
Before you write off Saved! as just another teen movie, consider its setting: American Eagle Christian High School. Saved! might follow the same old story line, but it definitely throws in some new twists.
Saved!, which boasts a cast of such popular young stars as Mandy Moore, Jena Malone, and Macaulay Culkin, follows five high school students through their tumultuous senior year at a Christian high school.
Writer and director Brian Dannelly was inspired to create Saved! after his own experience at a parochial school. He decided someone needed to bridge the gap between society's perception of Christian education and reality.
The movie opens with an introduction to the main character, Mary (Jena Malone of Stepmom), who lives with her single mother (Mary-Louise Parker of Fried Green Tomatoes). Mary, who converted to Christianity when she was in elementary school, struggles with her faith as she strives to remain a good Christian in light of her mother's relationship with her high school principal, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan), and her boyfriend's admission that he is gay.
Christian movie veteran Mandy Moore (A Walk to Remember) stars as Mary's best friend - the ever popular yet extremely annoying Hilary Faye. Although she means well, her holier-than-thou mentality often gets in the way of her actually doing good deeds.
Hilary Faye's brother, Roland (Macaulay Culkin), who was paralyzed when he fell out of a tree at the age of nine, is clearly the wiser and more authentic of the two siblings. He befriends bad girl Cassandra (Eva Amurri), the only "Jewish" at the high school, whose reputation and religion have caused her outcast status. As a disabled teenager, Roland can relate.
Although Saved! is extremely funny, it has been labeled a "dark comedy" because of the seriousness of some of its subject matter. Saved! addresses hurtful stereotypes, offensive character traits, and complicated issues that teens face everywhere, whether they are Christian or not.
The pressure to conform and to be the perfect Christian is a theme that follows the characters throughout their senior year.
"It's all too much to live up to. No one fits in 100% of the time," Mary says when she and her friends are criticized for their mistakes. "Why would God make us all so different if he wanted all of us to be the same?"
With hypocritical authority figures that tell the students "What you and your friends have done is not cool in the eyes of God," Saved! requires viewers to take inventory of the authenticity of their own actions.
Saved! is simultaneously poignant and hilarious. Many of us know characters like Hilary Faye, who try so hard to appear perfect and always in control, when they are really suffering on the inside. Hilary Faye sums up her disappointment with the statement:
"This is not how I wanted to remember my prom. This is not how I wanted to remember my life."
Assuming you aren't too easily offended, Saved! is a movie I would recommend to any student at Assumption. It may seem like just another teen movie on the surface, but it is actually a powerful statement on human nature.