DVD Review - “Saved!”

Written by Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban
Directed by Brian Dannelly

Saved! is a sharp, funny and ultimately very insightful film that gets a particular aspect of the fundamentalist Christian segment of the US in its sights and fires away with both barrels, leaping up and down on the carcass with high-heeled boots for good measure. A fresh and original look at teen genre comedies, Saved! looks at what life might be like in a fundamentalist Christian high school through the uber-satirical mind of Dannelly and Urban. To wit, the first line of the film is: "I've been born again my whole life."

The cast is universally fantastic, with both Jena Malone as Mary and Mandy Moore as best friend Hilary Faye shining as students at American Eagle Christian High School. This friendship is put to the test when over summer break Mary's misstep causes her to undergo some, uh, changes, putting her gradually at odds with the strict, unfeeling dogma pouring from Hilary Faye's mouth.

The strong ensemble includes Macaulay Culkin as Hilary Faye’s paraplegic brother Roland; Eva Amurri as Cassandra the school’s resident rebel (she’s a smoker, drinker, Jew and -gasp!- an atheist); Patrick Fugit as Patrick, a potential love interest for Mary; Martin Donovan as Principal Skip, Patrick father and a potential love interest for Lillian (Mary Louise Parker) Mary’s mother, and Heather Matarazzo as a rather off-the-wall Hilary Faye groupie.

As Hilary Faye grows increasingly over-the-top in her zealotry, many of the people around her, including Mary, Patrick and Roland begin to question their previous strict adherence to the faith. To be fair, Fugit’s Patrick has a jump on them all, appearing to coast through this black and white world of saved (Christian piety) and damned (everything else) with a rather zen-like way of looking at Christianity.

The film’s occasionally sober and potentially life-altering lessons are often carefully couched in ironic humor and subtle thoughtfulness, as when Hilary Faye and her God Squad try and perform an exorcism (set to the theme from The Exorcist, natch) on Mary who rejects the idea as she makes the transition from fundamentalist automaton to a person of honest spirituality.

Culkin and Amurri’s sub plot almost outshines the main thread, as the former does the best work of his career as the caustic and endlessly patient receiver of many of Hilary Faye’s obnoxious and selfish comments. For example, when Hilary Faye is driving her friends and Roland (reading a cheesy lingerie catalog and wearing huge headphones) to school in her new wheelchair accessible van:

 
Mary: So…what do you think of the new ride?

Veronica: Oh…you’re so lucky, Hilary Faye!

Hilary Faye: Yeah. I could have had a Lexus gold edition, you know.

Veronica (to all): Wow! Roland is blessed with such a thoughtful sister. In countries like China, Hilary Faye probably would have been killed at birth.

Hilary Faye : Yeah! And then where would you be, Roland?

Roland (without looking up) : China.

Roland proves to be a calm and understanding soul, able to handle his sister’s religious abuse while along the way bringing out the caring nature of outcast Cassandra, as a romance blooms between the two.

Though the film opens with the rather disturbing sounds of Moore covering what is one of the most romantic songs ever written, Brian Wilson’s “God Only Knows,” you shouldn’t hold that against it. Saved!’s satire is not without a rather important and delicately told lesson, however and the film is ultimately a cautionary tale about the blind acceptance of what interpreters of a given faith may tell you. Truly spiritual people do not need to force their ideas on others. Live and let live. Someone wise said that once.

The DVD’s production values and 5.1 sound are fine, and the extras are quite good for a small indie film, including two commentaries (Dannelly, Urban and producer Sandy Stern on one and Moore and Malone on the other), deleted scenes, bloopers (not enough, IMHO), a behind-the-scenes featurette (does anyone else find this a really obnoxious and overly precious word?) and a few scenes the filmmakers were obliged to cut to avoid an ‘R’ rating. Only major disappointment is a lack of producer Michael Stipe on a commentary track. There is, however, a nice little Easter Egg featuring the aforementioned Mr. Stipe. If you pray hard enough, Jesus might show it to you.

Photos (top to bottom): Saved DVD Cover Art; (L to R): Macaulay Culkin, Eva Amurri, Jena Malone
All photos are © MGM Studios