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Show WEDNESDAY A RTS 4 69 NTERTAINMENT Daily Utah Chronicle at woul d Jerry Falwell do? hypocrisies, pop exploitation and suburbanite takeovers. Even better, it pretty much nails every one. Sometimes "Saved!" comes on too hard, too swift, too directly over your head, but it is justified in doing so because Dannelly's target (religious fundamentalism) often does the same. If anything could be more overstated and brought out, though, it is Dannelly's direction his shot composition isn't that of a typical teen flick, taking a certain artisanship throughout and framing characters beautifully. More than anything, though, "Saved!" relies on the power of its young cast to make its message more than just digestible, and Moore, Malone and Mac serve it up just S'lr.-ij'- uiit il Arif is Written and ' Inm-u-- Hrimi Imn- Smrrhu Jenn Mulnne, Mandy Afore, Mnivulntt Cut!, in. Hnu 1 dl'l, utit i Li. Foster Kamer - : ,: t ij.' Stars " Ed-to- Young Life would think this is all wrong. Jerry Falwell would think this is all I wrong. I thought it might be all wrong, or at least seem that way to some viewers. In Brian Dannelly's writing and directorial debut, "Saved!" lots of things could have gone wrong. A film about the exploitation of religion to teens could come off as a diatribe against the institution of religion; it could have been preachy, overly satirical and underwhelming. It could have relied on the names of Mandy Moore and Maeaulay Culkin to bring "the kids" into theaters. Like much of its potentially blasphemous material, to get this film to the screen, the concept alone requires a little faith a giggler on is Bible School fundamentalism never easy to sell, especially in these "Passion"ate times. Luckily, Dannelly manages to pull a fly-bon his fair share of could-of- s there are plenty of prayers "Saved!" manages to answer. Jena Malone heads the cast as Mary, proud member of her (very) Christian school's most popular cliqueChristian rock group, the y : y -- i y j , , ch i3 A to Ul z o u o -- i How much did I miss Hollywood? Culkin uses his hands. antonly Jewish girl, Cassandra (Eva Amurri), both of whom Hillary Faye is trying to "save." e At times, "Saved!" shows a Christian Jewels. When Mary discovers that her boyfriend is gay, she decides to save him...by getting herself pregnant. first-tim- directorwriter slightly and leader of the pack, Hillary Faye (Moore), finds out about the unexpected bun in Mary's oven and ousts her from the group, leaving her to take refuge with Hillary Faye's crippled brother, Roland (Culkin), and school devi Religion-chi- c rl over- whelmed with his debut. Sometimes the dialogue gets choppy and the actors try their best to do what they can with it. The film touts a somewhat sentimental, overly idealistic ending, and some facets of high school are W ii 1 taken much lighter than we all know they should be. Despite its problems, though, "Saved!" delivers salvation to those looking for something new in the teen genre, as well as a few outsiders as welL Dannelly's commentaries and satire are sharp, bypassing an all-oattack on faith and instead ut (no pun intended) praises it, right: funny as hell. Moore's portrayal of Hillary Faye is worthy of recognition, as she captures gone God without missing a step. Culkin makes a worthy return (and we're not counting "Party Monster") as the deviant, delinquent, wheelchair-boun- d Roland. Finally, Malone makes her character's transitions and issues with faith rather believable, showing depth the teen genre has been missing since John Hughes sent five kids to morning detention. With a great supporting cast behind them as well ("Almost Famous'" Patrick Fugit, "Welcome To The Dollhouse's" Heather Mataraz-z- o and rookie Eva Amurri all shine), "Saved!" often quickly recovers from tripping over weighty, underlying themes to come around as one of the most funny, solid and unique teen flicks in years. while fkamerchronicle.utah.edu offering shots at Frank, my dear, I just don't give a damn If nothing else, at least The Siqifunl Wires Paramount Pictures l)inrti'du Frank 0: Starring Sicolc Kidman, Hnxlerieh, lU'tte Midkr Rated I'ti Ll Mat-then- - MM some- thing funnier. "The Stepford Wives" follows power couple Joanna Eberhart (Kidman) and Walter Kresby (Broderick), who are both executives at a television network pulling in ratings by way of trashy reality show programming. When things end up going overboard, Joanna is downsized from her top-spjob to keep the network from going under. Walter quits, the family moves to Stepford, Conn., and that's when things go slightly awry. Joanna begins to suspect that there's something wrong with the wives in Stepford they are Betty Crocker perfect in every way. They have looks, social grace and attitudes of devoted servitude toward their husbands. Investigational humor of gender relationship roles, themes and motifs ensues. Kidman and Broderick just don't make it happen, and it's questionable as to whether or not they even tried. Broderick consistently feels out of step any depth of the struggle he has with his masculinity and family roles feels cheap and contrived, as does any attempted chemistry with Kidman. high-ranki- 2 ant nj 5 stars Foster Kamer ASE Editor In Frank Oz's remake of the 1970s Katherine Ross flick of the same name, "The Stepford Wives," there are none of Oz's famed puppets present. Miss Piggy, along with her relentless diva behavior and Yoda, with his understated, ontolog-icmusings about the force, have lately been somewhere where there are no mosquitoes. They're kicking back, enjoying themselves after decades of fine work, making the sporadic Weezer video or prequel appearance every now and then. Had the guy who had his hand up their puppet asses for the last 25 years given thought to contacting their agents instead of those of his human stars (and their opaque, overstated performances) in the casting (f this film, something better might have turned up. al ot of Kidman, who Speaking the film tends to rely on, her performance is careless and sloppy. She bounces from one persona to another amid clunky transitioning. As she y crashes into being a to potential Stepfordian perfection, none of her trademark power or charisma shows. The mess even gets so sloppy in parts that her Australian accent slips out in some of her dialogue something Kidman almost never lets happen. power-hungr- ex-CE- O Glenn Close and Christopher Walken, as the Head Husband and Wife of Stepford, are rusted and creaking. Close's best Susie Homemak-e- r impersonation falls flat and comes off placated, even in her character's most placated scenes. Walken Nothing new there. The best moments in front of the camera come from Bette Midler and newcomer Roger Bart as Joanna's skeptical partners in crime. Midler dances and charms her way throughout, having a great time picking plays.-.Walke- apart the idiosyncrasies of suburban living with charisma and chutzpah to spare. Bart's performance rings of a sharper, younger Nathan Lane he line after line without having the gay humor go cheap. Midler and Bart's performances are the nails only high-clas- s 1 comfilm ponents of the everything else seems picked off the designer discount rack. Oz's direction is so that a much smaller-nam- e director could have handled such a simple job. Granted, Oz could have been trying to make a point about being by doing so, but the point loses its edge when Oz fails to give it any depth whatsoever. Black humor and sat- Honey, is ire are already implicit nice. in the plot, and leaking those qualities down onto everything from the dialogue to the vapid acting hurts more than it helps and the screenplay needs all the help it could get "The Stepford Wives" could fall under several categories: remake, postmodern pop culture satire, star vehicle or black comedy with science fiction underpinnings. More than anything, though, "The o V I x a. f i J' 1 (A hi 3 O J oK o X a. that Botox or are you just happy to see me? Broderick and Stepford Wives" simply falls under, descending to levels of sitcom laughs that might as well be canned At times, Oz's film almost feels like an over exaggerated, celebrity-populate- d "Saturday Night Live" skit, spewing Starbucks table humor at pop culture without delivering a solid punch line or point. Some of the ideas are interesting, and some of the jokes are funny. Must-See-T- V Kidman play but in the end, they prove to be better pursued in the comfort of your own home, via DVD player. Or, if you're like the couple who sat next to me at the screening, pouring whiskey from a flask into your soda cup every 15 minutes. Those two certainly found it funny. inDomestic tranquility, deed. fkamerchronicle.utah.edu ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS CALENDAR June You 9 gotta hand it to them. Brewvies is... well, brilliant. Cheap, good movies, lunch specials every day and a ready supply of 3.2 makes sense to $2 (Wednes- us-sp- end days and matinees only, $4 the rest of the time) to cry in your beer while watching "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" today. pretentious wannabes at the Salt Lake Coffee Break, or you could head over to the Broadway Centre, where "Coffee And Cigarettes," Jim Jarmusch's new film about bad habits and good conversation, starts today. Insomniac moodsters and hipsters vs. the White Stripes, 27 of the Clan, Iggy Tonight, some of the guys who used to be in to be in this other At The Drive In, who used band that, as it turns out, was a side project of some other band that everybody at Magazine could tell you all about over and over and over again, will play a show. SLUG Pretend you're seeing a good time at the Mars Volta Lo-- and have Cafe...with Sparta. Some guy got really drunk next to us at our screening of "The Stepford Wives," released review. today. He had the right idea-s- ee Wu-Ta- Pop, Tom Waits, Roberto bets Begnini-o- ur are already placed. Go see the movie. the 16 of you who actually saw "Pitch Black" (and liked it), "The Chronicles Of Riddick," which comes out today, is a really For June 10 pay back Oscar for his turn as a fat orange house cat. Brilliant! big deal. Vin Diesel sports weird sunglasses as he saves the universe, we guess. Don't least he didn't try to make complain-- at another comedy ("XXX," anyone?). Murray in "Garfield" is lost in translation as a feline that loves lasagna like a Bill s crackhead loves, urn, whatever it is love. It's just a hunch, but after overlooked last year at the Academy being Awards, expect Murray to bring home the wrote something about "Saved!" coming out a week or two ago. It did, just not in Salt Lake City. Well, this weekend, it does. So read our review. Now. We June 12 June You could go waste your life with the the first time they've ever agreed to play together, so it might be something to see. make friends. Bring some munchies-you- 'll June 14 How do I the ways: love thee, calendar? Let me count 1. We're cool. 2. Kate Hudson is hot. 3. Go see "The Taming of the Shrew" tonight at the Pioneer Memorial Theater. June 15 Not much going on Mingo Fishtrap, some band whose CD we got in the mail the ether day, is playing to- of night this Saturday in the way arts andor entertainment, but we have a solid line on a killer bar mitzvah. Tell little Joey Goldberg we say hi, and we'll send his present next week, when he's a man. at Liquid Joe's. We still can't believe it's not butter...or that these guys actually named their band fusion, for real. Mingo. Dig the funksoul Calendar sposorcd by crack-head- 11 Israel Vibration tonight. We're told this is June 13 - - - - w Go get holy, or go get a contact high at Park City's Club Suede with Pato Banton S Presenter's Office SMBTI POOI |