Director and co-screenwriter Brian Dannelly has set his debut film Saved! in the world of the Christian youth movement, a subject so rich in comedic possibilities that it seems Heaven-sent. That he and co-screenwriter Michael Urban get so many details right in this pointed, sunny black comedy before it turns into a benign Christian fairy tale earns them lots of Hail Mary's. Out producer Michael Stipe has also blessed the film by assembling a crack team of young actors who can still easily pass for the high school teens they portray.
Teen virgins, the dark-haired Mary (Jena Malone) and golden boy Dean (Chad Faust), are happy to follow the dictates of their Christian peer group and wait to consummate their love for each other until Dean hesitantly admits that he thinks he's gay. Mary loves the sinner but can't abide the sin! What to do? After a hilarious vision that Mary erroneously interprets as a sign from Jesus to try and 'cure' Dean, she knocks on his bedroom door preparing to 'bomb him with love.' Dean, already in the mood due to his illicit copy of Honcho magazine, quickly succumbs to her seduction. 'Thank you Jesus,' Mary sighs, fulfilling her Christian duties and her carnal desires in one fell swoop.
But Dean's parents find the Honcho and tell Mary that they've shipped him off for deprogramming. Mary confides in Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore), her wheelchair-bound brother Roland (Macaulay Culkin) and the other member of their religious clique, Veronica (Elizabeth Tai) about Dean's Dark Secret, leaving out their 'healing' encounter. Mary's confused at what Dean's parents have done but righteous rich bitch, Hilary Faye, the most popular girl at American Eagle Christian High School, silences her doubts, 'You're not born a gay, you're born again.'
Mary quickly discovers she's pregnant and just as quickly realizes she wants to break the rigid constraints imposed by her fellow fundamentalists. Mostly she wants to go to prom with cutie pie Patrick (Patrick Fugit), the hippie-ish son of the principal of the school, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan).
Saved! moves along as a sort of cross between an evangelical Heathers and a sweeter spirited Hairspray and works best when it mines the paradoxes inherent in the subject matter both visually and in the clever script: the Christian gun club with the motto 'An eye for an eye,' the co-modification of hip-hop culture by Pastor Skip who talks to the kids on the 'down low' about Christ, the palatable lust in the girls' eyes as Patrick hangs as part of a mock crucifixion in a gold lame bikini, the crosses dangling on the ample cleavage, signifying sex and chastity, of Mary's red hot single mama, played with authority by Mary Louise Parker, and the teenage rivalry and nastiness disguised as love and 'concern' between Hilary Faye, Mary and her new best friend, the school's rebel (and lone Jew), Cassandra (Eva Amurri)—especially when Hilary Faye clunks Mary in the head with her Bible, trying to knock the Demons out of her.
Best of all, watching Saved! as a member of the 10% club, was seeing the Jesus freaks relegated to subculture status for once. Christopher Guest, the master director-performer of improv films that have set the standard for comedy films exploring subcultures (Waiting For Guffman, Best And Show, A Mighty Wind) couldn't have done this any better. In the words of Joan Crawford to Bette Davis, 'Bless you.'
Aren't we lucky to live in Chicago? You might think so after seeing The Day After Tomorrow, this summer's big disaster-cautionary tale. Mainly because Chicagoans know plenty about winter, know to stay inside and turn up the heat and not go trudging around in the middle of a blizzard, and could probably shovel our way out of an ice age.
Living in the Midwest has also given us a low to non-existent profile in these annual demolition derby movies, which relish the destruction of both Los Angeles (always symbolized by the Capitol Records building) and New York (in which a teeming street is destroyed of everything but a homeless person and the Statue of Liberty is horribly defiled). Previous offerings have included Armageddon and Deep Impact (meteor showers), Twister (tornados), Dante's Peak and Volcano (spewing lava), Independence Day (invading aliens blowing up … everything), and Godzilla (big lizards).
Those last two were from writer-director Roland Emmerich who is at the helm again. This time global warming is the culprit, leading Earth into a premature Ice Age. The formula of these Big Booms is reassuringly in place. There's the opening cliffhanger, then a series of 'warning' scenes of the impending disaster (including one here of the Hollywood sign whooshing away in the path of four— count 'em—tornadoes).
Meanwhile, a small group of eggheads who know the Awful Truth try to warn the Authority Figure(s) who always poo poo these Chicken Littles (just once I'd like 'em to say, 'You're right—let's spend the $61 trillion right this minute and stop this thing before it happens.'). Then—just as the teenaged loved one(s) of the Eggheads and their ex-wives that they still secretly love go someplace vulnerable—It Hits.
Quiet scenes of the aftermath follow and then a slow build to the Big Finish in which loved ones reunite and the world is saved but left in ruins, while America's inherent pluck and strength of character is validated. Gays and lesbians, nowhere present before, during or after the disaster at hand, we can assume, are celebrating in their own fabulous, distinctive fashion—off screen.
The Day After Tomorrow certainly satisfies better than most of these theme park rides as movies. Dennis Quaid, Sela Ward and Jake Gyllenhaal do their earnest best as the windows smash and freeze about them and Ian Holm adds quiet dignity to his scenes. Emmerich has his formula down (and adds a terrifically funny sequence that I won't reveal—jokes in disaster flicks are much too rare as it is). Politicizing the film won't hurt it either (and if it helps to stop the dismantling of the EPA and puts the focus on global warming—YEAH!).
But just once—couldn't one of these films take out the Sears Tower, Marina City or the Hancock Building? Or what about the Mall of America? Couldn't we indulge in a little guilty destruction pleasure, too? How come Soddom (LA) and Gommorah (NY) have all the fun?
Local Screening:
Facets (1517 W. Fullerton) celebrates Fashion Week with screenings Wednesday and Thursday (June 2 & 3) of two little seen documentaries on fashion designer Yves St. Laurent. Call (773) 281-4114 for information or check online at www.facets.org .
