First of all here are two articles about the writer/director of the movie. If people are going to debate the film, they may as well know what his intentions were. Unlike what some here have said, the movie is not written by a "Hollywood outsider", but rather a guy who has a lot of experience growing up in religious schools .
The first link is an interview with Christianity Today:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/movies/interviews/briandannelly.html
And this is a brief first-hand overview of his religious schooling experiences:
http://www.movienet.com/saved.html
****SPOILER ALERT****
I thought the movie was very well done. When it was funny, it was funny in an honest and exhilirating way that it far too rare. The point a lot of people miss about the controversial set up is that it's ripping on the
false doctrines we construct. Everything goes kablooey because of two lies the Christian subculture perpetuates. (the first lie being that gays can be deprogrammed, and the second lie being the whole idea that you can "reclaim yourself as a virgin") So all of the agonizing over whether Jesus told the girl to have sex misses the point: Jesus never does this. She simply recieves a message to "be there for her boyfriend." The girl tries to figure out on her own what that means, and not surprisingly, it's horribly wrong.
My biggest disagreement with the movie is that the conservative Christians prove to be too flexible. I could look at each of the major characters and think of someone I know now or grew up with who fit that exact type. What was missing though was the fact that Mandy Moore's character, in all of her nastiness, wouldn't have been atypical. She wouldn't need to rally the troops all the time, because so many of those kids would have been equally driven to save souls and rebuke the weak. She would have been encouraged by the adults more; instead, the principal often looks at her as if he's embarrassed by her. Maybe that's based on the writer's experience, but in my own life, I've found that Christan teachers try so hard to get the kids to have that kind of exuberance, that they can't see the truth when the teen's exhuberance crosses the line.
In a real-life setting, Moore and her friend's wouldn't have to go to the prom alone - they'd be asked out left and right. Even if the guys weren't crazy about them (and Moore is cute enough that I bet a lot of Christian boys would gladly tolerate her), their ultra-connected mothers would have made sure that they had dates. Phone calls would be made, parents would ask for favors, and pretty soon, mom is nudging Billy to take out cranky ol' Mandy, because it would be the Christian thing to do.
But as I said, there was a lot of good exploration of faith done, but too many characters had a change of heart. In reading some of the articles about the movie, it's pretty clear that a lot of it is message-driven, i.e. he wanted each kind of believer to take a specific lesson from it. The principal in particular was intriguing - in one way inflexible, and yet in many other far more moderate than most of his colleagues would be. All I could think of, as I watched him, was how "normal" he was compared to a lot of youth leaders.
And it was a bit weird that one of my dearest 6th grade students looks almost exactly like Mandy Moore. And as fate would have it,
she's the most driven and enthusiastic kid in my class. Thankfully though, she's a sweetheart. Although it was unnerving because I could easily see the wrong leadership turning her into Mandy Moore type. So in a way, it kind of felt like a cautionary "this could be her in 5 years!" alert.
All in all, a fun little movie. I was a little disappointed that the story didn't get into the courtship craze - lots of great material to had there, too - but I was pleased that the religious theme wasn't just tacked on, and that it stuck with it through to the end. I do wish that it was made a little more clear at the end that one does not have to abandon what we're taught to learn about God, but that's a minor quibble.
