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Saved!When a leading actor leaves a movie, it usually spells disaster for the production. However, when Anne Hathaway left Saved! (due to a scheduling conflict) it was to the advantage of Brian Dannelly's religious satire as it resulted in the casting of Christian pop star/actress Mandy Moore as Bible-thumping bitch Hilary Faye. A role that would have died in the hands of the bland Hathaway, Moore's gameness together with the weight of her real-life religious convictions makes the abortion-clinic picketing teen just one of the many high points of this innovative and often very amusing film. Set in Baltimore, Saved! stars Donnie Darko's Jena Malone as Mary, a good Christian girl whose faith is tested when it turns out her boyfriend Dean (the serendipitously named Faust) might be gay. After Christ comes to Mary in a vision, she decides to save her partner's soul by offering him her virginity. With a pregnancy now to add to her woes, Mary finds herself the victim of ex-friend Hilary's teen brand of fire and brimstone. But as Mary's situation forces her attitudes to change, so she finds new friends in the form of the school's only Jewish girl Cassandra (Amurri), Hilary's crippled brother Roland (Culkin), and Patrick (Fugit), the son of the tragically hip headmaster Pastor Skip (Donovan).
Although it's been held up by some as an arch-satire of America's religious right, Saved! also shows some of the positives of a religious life. Balancing the argument serves to enhance the humour, so that Dannelly's picture (which he co-wrote with fellow first-timer Michael Urban) doesn't so much roast religion as gently tweak its nose. Of course, the gags about abortion and homosexuality will prove a bit too much for some. However, even the most pious person will find it hard to stifle a laugh when Hilary hurls her Bible at Mary while hollering, "I am FILLED with Christ's love!" The young cast brilliantly handle the comedy, which is in keeping with the John Hughes-esque tone. After quite dreadful earlier movies, Mandy Moore has tremendous fun with the horrific Hilary. Indeed, she comes out of the film a little better than Jena Malone, whose good girl is nowhere near as interesting as the harpy with a thing for the Holy Ghost. Fugit, meanwhile, does a good job of reminding us why we liked him in Almost Famous while Culkin's performance suggests the child star has grown into a reasonably gifted actor. However, as good as the kids are, their thunder is stolen by Hal Hartley favourite Martin Donovan, whose Pastor Skip provides Saved! with a moral centre while also generating some of the biggest laughs with his efforts to make religion relevant to the kids. Since Moore's presence guarantees a teenage audience, Saved! can only be so daring a satire and the film looks pretty tame alongside, say, Monty Python's Life Of Brian. But if it's unlikely to cause Billy Graham too many sleepless nights, you have to be impressed by the director's audacious mix of genres. Blending comedy, religion and teen drama is a complicated business, but what could have been a disaster turned out to be rather divine for Dannelly.
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