Saved! (Movie Review)

If movies were recipes, Saved! (2004) would have all the right ingredients.

It's a dark comedy replete with satire and parody. And it even lists Heather Matarazzo - of Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) fame - among its cast members.

And yet, in terms of execution, Saved! is guilty of committing the same faux pas that makes Michael Moore documentaries nearly unwatchable for me:

It's blatant in its criticism and, for much of the film, filled with such a writhing distaste for its subject matter that it loses all sense of clever social commentary. In the first half in particular, it mocks Christianity to the point that it alienates the very audience it most needs to reach. It emerges, instead, as a cinematic jewel only for those with a pre-existing bias... those who mock religious fundamentalism to the point that they, themselves, become anti-religion fundamentalists. By this design, the film is as stuck up and judgemental as the very characters it satirizes.

And if you're learned anything from knowing me - or reading this blog - it's likely that I don't deal well with extremism. For me, tolerance and open-mindedness shouldn't be an exclusive resort open only to those like-minded.

In that regard, the first 40 minutes of this film were somewhat disconcerting for me. I felt like writer/director Brian Dannelly was taking jab after jab at Christianity, pigeon-holing all Christians as right-wing conservative freaks. And while these folks certainly exist, they are — as is generally the case with extremists — a vocal minority.

And while I suspect Dannelly "gets" that, he has a difficult time showing it. Here's what I mean:

I'll be the first to admit that I found the "Buddy Jesus" in Dogma (1999) to be as clever as it was amusing. But, by comparison, the imagery Dannelly uses to "shock" his audience is outright disrespectful — not to mention, it's neither subtle nor clever.

But then something good happens to the film, by way of a negative catalyst. Essentially, the film's lead (Mary, played by Jena Malone) finds out she's pregnant. Here's where the movie starts to work for me: Mary begins to question her faith; or, at least, the devout parishioners around her. She's a senior at a very strict private Baptist school, and has to determine the best way to cope with her pregnancy. Abortion is not an option, but she has no outlet to discuss her condition. She's judged by everyone but the outcasts, as a result, and so becomes friends with an unlikely group.

Mary thus emerges are a more "ideal" Christian, a point Dannelly is (finally) able to convey with a modicum of subtlety. In this respect Saved! is a bit of a spiritual bildungsroman. And, in this respect, I found the film to be somewhat compelling. I even got a few good laughs out of it, though I had hoped for more.

I also took issue with the storybook ending, which ties up all loose ends with a pretty ribbon.

If only life were so easy.

In sum: this film is decent, but — if it had offered a more even-handed treatment of its subject — it could've been much better.