#140RVW
Heavy-handed but very funny roasting of “Christian values”. Rookie feature filmmakers show inexperience; comes off as a bit mean-spirited…
What’s more:
First off, this is a very funny movie. You need to be willing to laugh, of course. The topic and comic treatment of Christian values will keep many potential viewers away and send a lot of those who stick around in a tizzy. I can certainly understand those who have no interest in seeing movies like this. If you think you’re going to be offended, you’re probably right and should just stay away.
It’s a message movie, clearly. And I think that’s the problem. The creators seem to have an axe to grind. It keeps it from being entirely great. It’s not the irreverence; the close-minded and judgmental views of those portrayed in the movie are ripe for satire. The issue is that because the creators appear to be so invested in their message that the whole thing comes off as a bit single-minded. It’s really a one note story; there’s no depth. The movie has one thing to say and does so – repeatedly. The characters are rather one-sided. It’s all send-up and no subtlety. Again, there’s nothing really wrong with this, it’s just a missed opportunity. This subject matter is such a great source of potential material, but it is handled much better in films like Easy A or Juno, where there is a much more full-featured story.
My exhaustive 10 minutes of internet searching indicates that this is the first feature film from director Brian Dannelly, who also wrote the film with partner Michael Urban (this is also their first feature film as writers). All of his previous experience was in short films, which I think may shed some light on the approach to story-telling. This highly focused story would probably have made a great short film.
I don’t want to be too hard on Saved!, though. I really did enjoy it. It’s simply that by the end I was really hoping for an opposing viewpoint or a devout Christian character that was a bit more textured and less of a caricature.
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
PASS