As a fairly religious individual, I am sometimes offended at movies that make fun of religion. Mind you, this didn't stop me from seeing Dogma. I was pleasantly surprised by Saved, in that it did make fun of the extreme Christianity but still acknowledged religion (or at least spirituality) as a good thing.
Saved is the story of a young perfect Christian girl (played by Mandy Moore) and her posse of ab fab religious nut jobs attending the American Eagle Christian School. When she learns that her long time love is gay, she has a head-trauma induced vision of Jesus telling her to “do whatever she can to help [him]”. She misinterprets this as the divine okay to sleep with him, thereby “fixing” his homosexuality. However the boy's parents find out about his homosexuality. The boy is sent to Mercy House (a Christian rehab) and Moore is stuck with the inevitable aftermath of a 21st century chick-flick drama-dy romantic entanglement: she's pregnant.
Starting the new school year with her faith wavering, accompanied by all the usual emotional trauma of teen pregnancy, she ends up confiding in the school's “trouble case”, a Jewish girl named Cassandra. Cassandra smokes, has sex, and frequently makes a spectacle out the school. Teaming up with the pastor/principal's son Patrick and the most popular girl in school's handicapped brother, these four “heathens” form a bond of friendship and end up showing the school that some things can't be handled with prayer.
Saved is an incredibly funny movie to everyone except Christians with no sense of humor. While the movie is pretty much a cookie-cutter film from start to finish, it does have some truly excellent moments. In one scene, a group of Christian girls attempt to exercise Moore. She explodes at the main girl saying that she doesn't know “anything about love.” To which the girl responds by throwing the bible at Moore's back screaming “I am FILLED with Christ's love!”
This review is a little shorter than my others, but I really think the movie speaks for itself. You should definitely watch this film.
So, the final verdict… you should buy this movie (8 out of 10).
