Does Jesus Love Me?

Despite a life long indifference to Jesus, "Saved" gave me about five seconds of pause. Does Jesus love me? And better question, does it matter?

"Saved" alternates between gently and harshly mocking the world of born-again Christians in Baltimore, MD. Filled with some excellent performances from unexpected places and more than a few deviously funny moments, "Saved" is a nice antidote to the current cinematic fare. Troy is some mindless entertainment and Harry Potter 3 was an improvement on the summer, but "Saved" goes a bit further and actually manages to amuse with a message.

Without being too preachy, "Saved" discusses what happens when your faith, something you've held onto your entire life, is suddenly and undeniably called into question. In an effort to prevent her boyfriend from turning gay, Mary (Jena Malone) imagines that Jesus tells her to do whatever is neccesary to accomplish this goal. This of course translates into hasty and unprotected sex. Needless to say the boyfriend is still gay and Mary is left with 9 months to figure out how to explain this to her mother, her school, and her friends.

Before this Mary was part of the Christian Jewels, or as she calls it "a girl gang for Jesus". The vicious head of this group is fiercely portrayed by Mandy Moore, of former pop-singing fame. She is slowly building a nice little resume of parts, Hillary Faye being her best thus far. Hillary Faye's religious fervor seems manic at times and she uses her "love for Christ" as a protective shield, allowing her the freedom to treat other people like garbage. She is especially manipulative with her brother Roland, Macaulay Culkin proving that he can do more than scream with his hands on his face. He is confined to a wheelchair and views his sister's charity as bordering on sadism. Eventually he hooks up with the school's token Jew, Cassandra (played by Susan Sarandon's daughter). Quite obviously Cassandra is the school outcast. She begins to talk in tongues at a school prayer meeting, but she's actually saying some very nasty things. She meanders around campus smoking, drinking, and cursing, and generally being the Anti-Christian Jewel.

Once Hillary Faye finds out about Mary's pregnancy, she takes it upon herself to save Mary's soul and keep her from dating the Pastor's cute, skateboarding son, Patrick. Patrick (Patrick Fugit) is as he say "totally adorable" though his character could have had a bit more fleshing out. As Mary and Patrick get closer, Hillary Faye's insistence on saving Mary becomes nastier and more brutal.

The plot doesn't play out with any sort of twist or massive surprise, but it still holds your interest. Each of the characters has to face their faith and it is those tiny battles of conscience that carries the film to the end. No one escapes with their belief unscathed. Oddly, it was Hillary Faye's crisis of faith that seemed most heartbreaking. After devoting her life to what she believed was God's work, she cannot fathom that her life ends up as anything other than perfect. Her reaction to this was not really a good answer to the question "What would Jesus do?"

Of course "Saved" has the requisite Christian Rock and giant plywood statue of Jesus, all serving the sarcastic viewpoint of writer/director Brian Dannelly. But beyond the giggles and outright laughter at this sometimes freaky religious society, is a honest questioning of one's relationship to God and religion with enough self-awareness not to be self-important.