Saved!

Year: 2004 Rating: PG-13 Overall Evaluation: 3.0 Significance Suppositions Story Style 1.0 / 10 3.0 / 10 5.0 / 10 6.0 / 10 Click HERE for evaluation criteria.

The movie is rated PG-13. It involves crude sexual humor, teen groping, one minor sex scene (no nudity), blatant cussing, homosexuality, adultery, profane gestures, etc. Fairly realistic without getting too detailed.

Story

The plot revolves around a girl who gets pregnant while trying to save her boyfriend from turning gay by giving up her virginity to him (because Jesus told her to, of course). This alone suggests the overall quality of the story. In the meantime her mother is having an affair with the pastor / principle of her high school, and her friends are all, each in their own personal way, discovering the overall lameness of Christianity (such as is portrayed here): we have the gay (but sincere) boyfriend, the rebellious (but tender hearted) female, the pious (but bitchy) prima donna, etc. In the end . . .

[SPOILER ALERT]

. . . the pregnant girl realizes that her boyfriend being gay is OK (why would God make everyone so different if He wanted everyone to be the same???) just as long as he's following his heart, her adulteress mother and pastor realize that their love affair is OK as long as they are following their hearts, the rebellious girl succeeds in winning the heart of the fence-rider and so not being a Christian is OK as long as you're following your heart, and the single mother thing is OK too as long as you have a supportive boyfriend who doesn't mind because . . . you guessed it . . . he's following his heart.

Suppositions

This was, I think, supposed to be a comedy. There are some mildly amusing parts, but the theme is so ridiculously overplayed it comes off looking rather stupid. And don't think I'm saying this just because I am a Christian - Monty Python's extremely irreverent Life of Brian was absolutely hysterical. There's nothing wrong with a good lampoon - and there's nothing wrong with being able to laugh at yourself or your community (or, in this case, sub-community). But an entire cast of one dimensional caricatures is little more than propaganda (a lesson Christian filmmakers need to learn themselves). Suffice to say that there is not a good example of a true Christian anywhere in the movie. This is what we philosophers call a "strawman" or "special pleading" fallacy. What you do is take only the element of a position that you can attack and make it out to be representative the whole enchilada. Are there dorky Christians out there that think there needs to be a "Christian" version of everything (skating, haunted houses, dances, etc.)? Yes. Are there Christians who use "prayer groups" for gossip? Yes. Are there Christians who think that evangelism is just harping on "getting saved" and never about really loving someone? Yes. I would go so far as to say that very few elements of the movie could not be found somewhere. But that's like saying that some of the elements of Vertical Limit could be found in real mountain climbing (climbers who saw this abysmal film will understand). Imagine if someone had made a movie about black people where every one was a drug dealing, ebonics speaking, welfare parent gangsta-wanna-be rapper with gold teeth? Or, what if someone made a film about homosexuals where every one was an over-the-top flamboyant fetish freak who had sex with everything (same sex of course) that moved? Do you think the PC public would accept that? Of course not. But hey, these are Christians, they deserve it. What it comes off as is a ridiculous comedy that is not funny. Having one dorky character to play off of a realistic one is fine, but to make an entire cast of subculture caricatures out to be representative of any group is just plain false.

Significance

What is really sad about this movie is how good it might have been. As a slam on pop-Christianity it works - but it fails to deliver the solution. Rather than the characters realizing the error of their ways for what they are (a perversion of Christianity), the characters instead "realize" that Christianity itself is false and turn away. In the end, no surprises here, "god" turns out to be something inside everyone. How do we know? Because we feel it of course. Therefore religion is not about right and wrong, true and false, because "god" (whatever it is) is inside of us all and (somehow) loves us all. So let's just accept one another because we're all sinners. See how easy it is to distort the truth? Yes, we're all sinners to some degree, but does that excuse a lifestyle of sin? Does this make adultery morally acceptable? Does that mean we should accept homosexuality as normal? Does that mean rebellion against God and goodness is now itself good? Duhhhh. Yes, Jesus loves us despite our sin - this is true. But the spin put on this truth is that love = salvation which is patently unbiblical. Being loved by God does not mean you are saved - you have to love Him back, and on His terms. About the only truth conveyed in this film is that the world is immoral and pop Christianity does not have the power to solve it. The answer, however, is not to deny the truth of Christianity - but to deny the falsehood of pop-culture, even in its Christian form.