Just saw it. I thought it was great! It got a bit preachy and heavy handed at the end, and I was a little dissapointed that they added the cheesy “life is too amazing to just be an accident” speech right after she had the baby.
I think it could have been a better and more subtle movie if they’d shown Pastor Skip as a genuinely good and mature Christian who spews glurge because he doesn’t respect the teenagers’ intelligence enough/isn’t smart enough to do otherwise. Instead, he was just a more-or-less vapid adult-who-doesn’t-understand with a tissue paper personality.
Nevertheless, the movie was hilarious in its portrayal of shallow side of modern evangelical Protestantism. Some of the little touches were just spot on. About the only thing they missed was the “Father-god we just wanna” prayer.
I thought Macauly Culkin was surprisingly good. He didn’t blow me away with his acting, but I think this was a great part for him to finally move into adult roles.
Jena Malone, on the other hand, did blow me away. Even when the movie was over the top, she always struck me as an innocent but intelligent 17-yr old learning to be mature. Plus, she’s really hot. (Is it wrong to say that after pointing out how convinvingly she played 17? Probably, but they’re seperate in my mind.)
I liked it a lot too, though I agree it did get a bit preachy at times, and it would have been nice if at least one of the devout characters had a little more depth.
Now, I’ve never really paid much attention to Mandy Moore- so I could be completely off base here- but I figured she probably depended a lot on the Christian demographic as a fan base, particularly with her music. I didn’t actually think her music was faith-based, but she seems really vanilla, innocent, and non-offensive- the kind of thing Christians would dig. Any chance this movie could hurt her?
Oh, and, Alan, you can have Jena Malone- I want Mary-Louise Parker! Wow! She looks so great in this movie. I’ve always like her work as an actress, but- Wow! She looks so great in this movie!!!
Just so you’ll know in the future, Alan Smithee, contents of spoiler boxes show up in the tool-tips for your thread title. When someone hovers a mousepointer over your title, they see the spoiler before even entering the thread. Nice user name, by the way.
Crap! I did know that, but since I’ve never posted an OP with a spoiler box before, I didn’t think of it. Next time I’ll remember. Oh well! It’s not a very big spoiler, and I almost left it unboxed anyway. I guess people will have to learn not to hover the pointer of thread titles that include the word “spoilers”! :o
I would not call the movie pro-Christian, although many Christians would enjoy it. It is vaugely pro-faith in a somewhat post-modern, do-your-own-thing sort of way, but it’s big pitch is for inclusivism and tolerance regardless of belief. A pretty bland message, really.
It definitely does make fun of certain types of Christians. Some Chrisitians would be offended by this, other will enjoy it because they’ll know enough to get all the jokes. It isn’t that far in taste from bettybowers.com and landoverbaptist.com, though a bit on the tamer side.
The best lines are in the previews, but I’ll spoiler-box them anyway:
Mandy Moore’s character is painting a huge billboard Jesus.
Macaulay Culkin: I don’t think he’s supposed to be white. According to this magazine I read–
Mandy Moore: Of course he’s white! (To her friend) Sometimes I think my brother really is retarded.
Jena Malone: You don’t know the first thing about love!
Mandy Moore: (Hits her with Bible) I am filled with Christ’s love!
etc.
