Jena Malone is perfect as Mary, the girl who attends American Eagle Christian School with the perfect posse and perfect boyfriend Dean. Except her whole life begins to unravel when Dean confesses that he's gay. After she has a vision of Jesus underwater (when she hits her head on the ladder in her pool), she believes that her mission is to save Dean and in doing so she loses her virginity to him. After Dean's parents discover he is gay, they send him to "Mercy House" and Mary is left alone.
When she thinks that her best friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) and her clique of "Christian Jewels" will support her through this hard time, Hilary Faye begins to make insane accusations and turns the school against Mary. Hilary Faye is an extreme Christian who finds any reason to make herself and her values look better than those who don't follow God, or more outright, her. Mandy Moore is hysterical and she really personifies the character, once again proving that she's got more promise in the acting field than music. (Although she's pretty much set for both). She's got great range and when it's called for to be a bitch, she's got the sharpest claws you could hope for, and she can pull off her hypocritical character with a sense of false sugary sweetness at the same time.
I already knew that Jena Malone had skills and she's definitely proved here that she can take more serious roles. Not to mention her recent performance in "The Ruins", Jena is a great actor who plays well alongside the supporting actors including the weird Macaulay Culkin and the refreshing but over the top Eva Ammuri. They play the rejects, the outcasts who take Mary in when Hilary Faye begins her whole vendetta against her. As Mary's baby grows and the story progresses, no Christian stereotype or character can dodge the teeth of this sharp satire, and Saved! is dead on hilarious. Most kudos go to Mandy Moore for her hilarious turn as Hilary Faye, and may she find more serious roles in the film industry.
When she thinks that her best friend Hilary Faye (Mandy Moore) and her clique of "Christian Jewels" will support her through this hard time, Hilary Faye begins to make insane accusations and turns the school against Mary. Hilary Faye is an extreme Christian who finds any reason to make herself and her values look better than those who don't follow God, or more outright, her. Mandy Moore is hysterical and she really personifies the character, once again proving that she's got more promise in the acting field than music. (Although she's pretty much set for both). She's got great range and when it's called for to be a bitch, she's got the sharpest claws you could hope for, and she can pull off her hypocritical character with a sense of false sugary sweetness at the same time.
I already knew that Jena Malone had skills and she's definitely proved here that she can take more serious roles. Not to mention her recent performance in "The Ruins", Jena is a great actor who plays well alongside the supporting actors including the weird Macaulay Culkin and the refreshing but over the top Eva Ammuri. They play the rejects, the outcasts who take Mary in when Hilary Faye begins her whole vendetta against her. As Mary's baby grows and the story progresses, no Christian stereotype or character can dodge the teeth of this sharp satire, and Saved! is dead on hilarious. Most kudos go to Mandy Moore for her hilarious turn as Hilary Faye, and may she find more serious roles in the film industry.