SAVED!

Though it tries again and again to be a biting commentary about narrow-minded religious fanatics, 'Saved!' works far better in the few moments when it forgets its agenda and lets genuine emotion poke through.

'Saved!' takes place during Mary's (a genuinely likeable Jena Malone) senior year at American Eagle Christian High School, paying extra special attention to holidays (lest we don't realize that time is passing). The plot, in a nutshell, concerns Mary and her boyfriend Dean, young Christians in love. When Dean admits that he thinks he's gay, Mary is told by Jesus that sleeping with him will convert the sinner. Dean is sent away to Mercy House. Mary finds out she is pregnant. Mary's friend Hilary Faye becomes an ex-friend, then enemy. A kid in a wheelchair and a Jew make nice. A nerdy girl is accepted into the cool clique. And on and on until the inevitable climax at the school prom.

The first half hour of 'Saved!' concentrates almost solely on sticking it to religion, but the jokes never rise above sketch comedy level. Mary is fleshed out, but the rest of the cast during the first segment of the film never become more than cardboard characters we've all seen in other movies. Things don't get much better from there, though when the movie lets itself be a simple story about high school pregnancy and feeling like an outcast, 'Saved!' does become a better (if different) movie than it tries to be. Then it's right back to broad satire, and the moment is lost. There are some touching scenes in 'Saved!' but even those feel cribbed from better films. It's the near constant slams on religious zealotry that truly set this film apart. Ironically, they're also the weakest cog in the machine.

'Saved!' picks an outstanding target - I wish it had practiced its aim. As it is, the film is perfectly average, and just like the perfectly average kids at high schools across the nation, 'Saved!' doesn't generate much better or worse than a shrug.

MAYBE SO (5/10)