Posted on 05/28/2004 9:47:25 AM PDT by RightWingAtheist
'Saved!" is a satire aimed at narrow-minded Christians, using as its weapon the values of a more tolerant brand of Christianity. It is also a high school comedy, starring names from the top shelf of teenage movie
The film follows the traditional pattern of many other teenage comedies. There's a clique ruled by the snobbiest and most popular girl in school, and an opposition made up of outcasts, nonconformists and rebels. We saw this formula only a few weeks ago in "Mean Girls." What's different this time is that the teen queen, Hilary Faye, is the loudest Jesus praiser at American Eagle Christian High School, and is played by Moore, having a little fun with her own good-girl image.
Her opposition is a checklist of kids who do not meet with Hilary Faye's approval. That would include Dean (Chad Faust), who thinks he may be gay; Cassandra (Eva Amurri), the only Jew in school and an outspoken rebel, and Roland (Culkin), Hilary Faye's brother, who is in a wheelchair but rejects all forms of sympathy and horrifies his sister by becoming Cassandra's boyfriend. There's also Patrick (Fugit), member of a Christian skateboarding team and the son of Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan), the school's widowed principal. He's thoughtful and introspective and isn't sure he agrees with his father's complacent morality.
The heroine is Mary (Malone), whose mother Lillian (Parker) has recently been named the town's No. 1 Christian Interior Decorator. Mary's boyfriend is Dean (Faust, an interesting name in this context). One day they're playing a game that involves shouting out secrets to each other while underwater in the swimming pool, and Dean bubbles: "I think I'm gay!" Mary is shocked, bangs her head, thinks she sees Jesus (he's actually the pool maintenance guy) and realizes it is her mission to save Dean. That would involve having sex with him, she reasons, since only such a drastic act could bring him over to the hetero side. She believes that under the circumstances, Jesus will restore her virginity.
Jesus does not, alas, intervene, and Mary soon finds herself staring at the implacable blue line on her home pregnancy kit. Afraid to tell her mother, she visits Planned Parenthood, and is spotted by Cassandra and Roland.
Cassandra: "There's only one reason Christian girls come downtown to the Planned Parenthood!"
Roland: "She's planting a pipe bomb?"
You see what I mean. The first half of this movie is astonishing in the sharp-edged way it satirizes the knee-jerk values of Hilary Faye and her born-again friends. Another target is widower Pastor Skip, who is attracted to Mary's widowed mother; she likes him, too, but they flirt in such a cautious way we wonder if they even realize what they're doing.
At the time Mary sacrifices her virginity to conquer Dean's homosexuality, she's a member of Hilary Faye's singing trio, the Christian Jewels, and a high-ranking celebrity among the school's Jesus boosters. But the worldly Cassandra spots her pregnancy before anyone else does, and soon the unwed mother-to-be is hanging out with the gay, the Jew and the kid in the wheelchair. They're like a hall of fame of outsiders.
Dean's sexuality is discovered by his parents, and he's shipped off to Mercy House, which specializes in drug detox and "degayification." Once again the screenplay, by director Brian Dannelly and Michael Urban, is pointed: "Mercy House doesn't really exist for the people that go there, but for the people who send them," says Patrick, who is having his own rebellion against Pastor Skip, and casts his lot with the rebels.
Now if the film were all pitched on this one note, it would be tiresome and unfair. But having surprised us with its outspoken first act, it gets religion of its own sort in the second and third acts, arguing not against fundamentalism but against intolerance; it argues that Jesus would have embraced the cast-outs and the misfits, and might have leaned toward situational ethics instead of rigid morality. Doesn't Mary, after all, think she's doing the right thing when she sleeps with Dean? (What Dean thinks remains an enigma.)
"Saved!" is an important film as well as an entertaining one. At a time when the FCC is enforcing a censorious morality on a nation where 8.5 million listeners a day are manifestly not offended by Howard Stern, here is a movie with a political message: Jesus counseled more acceptance and tolerance than some of his followers think. By the end of the movie, mainstream Christian values have not been overthrown, but demonstrated and embraced. Those who think Christianity is just a matter of enforcing their rulebook have been, well, enlightened. And that all of this takes place in a sassy and smart teenage comedy is, well, a miracle. Oh, and mirabile dictu, some of the actors are allowed to have pimples.
I'm less offended by the alleged anti-christian bias of the movie under review than Ebert's own use of the fundamentalist tactic of thinking he knows exactly what some Jewish carpenter was talking about 2,000 years ago.
So, the message of Jesus is ... 'Go forth and sin as much as you want. Nothin' bothers me. Anything goes. I'll get you into Heaven no matter what -- because I'm a kewl, tolerant kinda guy!'
Guess I've learned something new.
Incoming.
Ebert sure is ... political in his reviews, eh? This movie sure sounds like it sends a message. You know the old Harry Warner saying about making films to send a message, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union."
Once again, we have Roger Ebert brooding in a dark theatre, his snout deep in a bucket of greasy popcorn.
While Gibson's historically accurate "Passion" was poo-poo'ed, this one will be heralded, just like Fahrenheit by Moore. Same reason Degeneres got an Emmy for her no-talent, lame show.
I suppose we should be thankful that the Pastor wasn't portrayed as a pedophile.
Ol' Rog really has expanded, hasn't he.
Jesus reached out to sinners to offer forgiveness if they repent. He didn't like hypocrisy. But His death on the cross is an excamation point on His tolerance of sin. He doesn't.
Making a living watching the crud Hollywierd puts out would take a toll on anyone.
Wanna bet most of the people making this movie aren't even Christians? They have another agenda.
Jesus did not eat with the tax collectors because he accepted or approved of their skimming off the top. He ate with them because they were in need of redemption - as we all are.
This movie is just more of the same stereo-typing and Christian bashing that we have come to expect from Hollywood. However, this one is so transparent that it is hardly worth the time to comment on it.
But not as much as others think. Yes, Jesus told the crowd around the adulterous woman, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." But he never told the crowd that the woman herself was without sin. And after they left, He told the woman, "Go and sin no more."
Wow! Sounds like this will be as big a hit as THE PASSION. I just know that my church is going to buy out the theatre and take all our youth to see it.
Famous last words.
situational ethics instead of rigid morality. Doesn't the solider, after all, think she's doing the right thing when she holds the leash of a prisoner?
Fair enough, but when can I expect "Jihad! The Musical!", a satire aimed at murderous Islam? My guess is some time next never.
With that said, what's with all this talk about Jesus' "tolerance"? He wasn't just some motivational speaker exhorting people to do right. He was the Son of God, for cryin' out loud. Isn't dying for everyone's sins the height of "tolerance"? Sheesh.
I think Ebert did give the Passion a great review. He does need Siskel back to smack him around a bit from time to time. Or better yet, replace his whiny Sun-Times colleague Roeper with another Sun-Time columnist, the cultured Mark Steyn.
Of course, this was all part of the bigger picture, that man was incapable of sinlessness, and incapable of saving himself. I'm just so sick of the idea that Jesus was more tolerent when the opposite is true.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.