kyeseven This movie has the perfect serious/ridiculous balance. It conveys serious social messages, such as the hypocrisies and contradictions inherent in religion. It's very funny and edgy. It's a brilliant, poignant satire with some over the top villains of the bigoted, fanatical Christian, zealot type, and, perhaps most importantly, it contains several extremely likable, three-dimensional protagonists. It's rare to find a satire that contains three-dimensional characters that possess depth and likeability. It's one of my favourite films ever. I have watched it many times and I don't get bored of it.

sol- Released a few months before 'Mean Girls', though frequently compared against it, this Canadian comedy involves a girl at a devout Christian high school who begins to associate with the social outcasts after circumstances cause her to realise how shallow her previous friends were. And her situation could hardly be more zany; after her boyfriend confesses that he is gay, she has a vision and comes to believe that Jesus wants her to sleep with him in order to turn him straight, however, all this leads to is his parents shipping him off to a religious institution for treatment, while she ends us pregnant. Quirks along the way include her old friends subjecting to her an exorcism (!) - set to the music from 'The Exorcist' no less - after they notice her acting differently, and a wheelchair-bound Macaulay Culkin frequently poking fun at his condition. The film does not manage to sustain this zaniness throughout with the final act coming off as rather preachy; the results of all the pranks that go on are a little easy to predict too. For the most part though, this is an amusing teen comedy, very much propped up by the unusual choice to set it inside a very exclusive Christian school where 'saving' another person's soul is the most exciting thing that many of the teens dreams of. Jena Malone is (as always) great in the lead role and her voice-over narration is excellent too.

madpigmadpig A catholic girl tries to turn her homosexual boyfriend heterosexual by going against her religious belief in chastity, but doesn't use protection and gets pregnant. Social stress and outsiderness ensues.This movie tries to be trendy and cute to force a point, and it doesn't work. The problems with the screen writing aren't un-fixable, but they are pronounced. Namely, too many internal contradictions and way too much preachy rhetoric (which is ironic, really). Firstly, in the beginning, the protagonist VO narrates that she's so pious that she tries to commit suicide to "be with the angels" like her dead father. Isn't suicide supposed to be a mortal sin? According to canon, she'd be with the fallen angels. Secondly, the protagonist then 'fornicates' with a guy outside of marriage - also supposedly a pretty big sin. Thirdly, the only Jew is portrayed as a complete a-hole who smokes (as a social protest?). Third-and-a-half-ly: smoking is portrayed as a cool, rebellious thing. Fourthly, the film repeated the creepy teen movie trope of the parent of the protagonist dating the parent of the protagonist's love interest (smacking of incest much?). As more minor writing flaws, they have the snotty girl do outlandishly criminal things as a reaction to a prank in which she wasn't even identified by name. Illogical. She also has a final meltdown later on after what seems like very little provocation. Also, the final preachy speech by the protagonist & friends at the end tries to make the Pleasantville argument (that attempting to live up to any ideal is wrong because everyone is just too 'different') seem sensible. The problem is that this rather weak argument essentially excuses anything, yet surely all actions and behaviors can't be part of the vast 'moral gray area.' Anyway, I wish I could have those 92 minutes back.If you still must watch, I'd recommend it for fans of the show Glee; one of the most offensively -ist shows on TV.Content notes: Contains quite a bit of swearing, some crude language.

tidus_narishma *** This review may contain spoilers *** Saved! is a good movie for many different reasons. It is good because of the casual set up and introduction that draws you in and catches your attention. It is good for the free spirited expression of religion that it seems to try and get across. It does have very defined character development and distinct change throughout the movie. All the characters are challenged to question what they believe, and thus grow as people because of it.However, that isn't the entirety of the movie. There are many downfalls that take away from the experience. Although the broad generalization of Christianity is said to be merely the avenue through which "religion" is expressed, Saved! gives a very fake feel to Christianity even as a religion. The characters that you feel most strongly against are those who end up rejecting religion in the end and taking a completely nihilistic view of life. Those very characters seem the most authentic in the end. Being a Christian myself, this is offensive because Christianity is what seems backwards in light of doing whatever feels right to the individual. My God is personal and very close to me, and the movie made it seem like God really didn't care, which is not true. Certain characters apparently use verses from the Bible, but they are always very broad and non-specific, never a full citation. This makes it seem like Christianity is essentially a logical fallacy, completely illogical. This however, is far from the truth. God Himself, who is a very personal, real, and living God is truth incarnate. Saved! did poorly in conveying the true message of Christianity, but instead utilized its own interpretation to make a dramatization of it.I would recommend this movie as an experience that will challenge you. It makes you think about things more intently and about how and why you believe what you do, although it just ends up leaving you with an attitude of apathy about life and the consequences of choices that you make. Furthermore, I would also recommend and challenge you to become more familiar with what Christianity stands for and what its about instead of merely accepting what Saved! presents. Which is essentially the message of Saved!, to question what you believe.