Saved!

Grade: B-

Ebullient teenagers, all in matching t-shirts, clapping and singing in unison in praise of the Lord, a joyful troupe leader spurring them on.

“Let Jesus Bless You.” Clap clap. “Let Jesus Bless You.” Clap clap.

No, this wasn’t in the movie. It was on our way to the movie, in a pizza parlor on 54th and 8th. The look on the faces of my fellow Manhattanite sinners, simply trying to eat a slice in peace, was absolutely priceless. You can’t make this stuff up.

Lest this movie be taken on its face as simply a religious farce or satire, the voices of teenagers in pizza and Jesus rapture makes one question just how much of a send-up this all really is.

Sometimes on the edge but never over it, this often very funny movie is never quite as vicious as it could be, nor as biting as it should be. Walking a fine line as a campy indictment of religious fanaticism, well-meaning family drama, and ABC afterschool special, there manages to be a sincere if sometimes syrupy heart behind the Christian slapdown.

Mandy Moore continues to pleasure and surprise, here as the devoutly proselytizing little miss perfect one can’t help but loves to hate. Never so inhuman that she falls into caricature, she makes us believe true believers like this frighteningly do exist. Praise the Lord! The rest of the company add some reality into rather one dimensional characters, never taking the storyline too seriously and having some fun with the absurdity of it all.

Rock stars sing for the Lord, the righteous get knocked up, ministers get horny, gays get de-fagged, the bad-girl Jew rolls her eyes while the paraplegic takes it all in stride…the plea for tolerance and understanding gets more than a little preachy and drippy in the final reel, but there’s more than enough sacrament bashing and denomination deprecation to provide some genuine pleasure to us anti-organized religion types.

More Movie Info: http://imdb.com/title/tt0332375/