Brian Dannelly
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
Audiences can already experience this with Bruce McCulloch’s Superstar (1999), find the ironic version in Brian Dannelly’s Saved! (2004), and explore the class issues in Greta Gerwig’s heartwarming Lady Bird (2017).
The subject matter brings to mind another great teen indie, 2004's brilliant Saved! , but Yes, God, Yes doesn't skewer "moral" sex ed with the same satirical bite as that much more heightened take on the subject (a highly satisfying needle drop in the closing moments, however, could be interpreted as a quiet nod to the earlier film).
Besides a meaningful, if tritely orchestrated conversation between Alice and a lesbian bar owner (Susan Blackwell), Yes, God, Yes treads the same territory as 2004’s Saved! , which was better able to tease out a myriad of complexities pertaining to teen sexuality and the oppressive hand of religious beliefs.
During its snappy first hour, Brian Dannelly's black comedy "Saved!" is reminiscent of Alexander Payne's marvelous 1999 satire "Election" in its sharp, take-no-prisoners characterizations, smart dialogue and recognizably grungy high-school milieu.
I watched Dogma right before I watched Saved!, and I found Dogma to be a much better movie in every aspect.
This may be because Saved! doesn't pay attention to religious detail like Kevin Smith's more satiric (and more spiritual) Dogma (1999).
The rest of the cast is essentially made up of caricatures, the most notable (and not in a good way) being Amanda Bynes' fire-and-brimstone religious nut who appears to have been ripped straight out of 2004's " Saved! ".
With shades of 2004's " Saved! " hanging around the fringes, there is also a razor-humored plot thread tackling the narrow-minded hypocrisy inherent within organized religion and the way that this can stop people from seeing things as they truly are.
While it has moments that are sheer perfection, Easy A is an imperfect film--there's a bit too much of the meta-movie stuff, the nudge-nudge acknowledgment of the pat story arc doesn't negate the shameless embracing of it, and I liked Amanda Bynes's character better when Mandy Moore played it in Saved! .
Then theres Amanda Bynes as Marianne, Olives super-righteous classmate a la Mandy Moores character in Saved!.
If there is a disappointment overall in "Easy A" it is with the character of Amanda Bynes's ("Hairspray," "Sydney White") Marianne who seems to have stepped out of 2004's "Saved!." Granted, "The Scarlet Letter" requires righteous moral indignation, but the "Easy A" version is so otherwise inventive, Marianne seems like a copout and Bynes gives the role little humor.
There are shades of the 2004 comedy Saved! in Lady Bird , with its Catholic school setting and sharp focus on high school hierarchies.
While it might sound like a spoof of evangelicism akin to Brian Dannelly’s Saved! (2004), Henry Poole is Here is dreadfully earnest in delivering its message of Christian redemption—earnest and clichéd.
Even if that's too much to ask of a high school comedy, Saved! also disappoints in failure to treat evangelicals with the mix of satire and affection granted to cheerleaders in Bring It On (2000).
Meanwhile, Mary's barely-there flirtation with Patrick (Patrick Fugit from "Almost Famous") is given so little screen time that it's a wonder it didn't get excised entirely.
Patrick Fugit, from ''Almost Famous,'' turns up as the pastor's son, and Fugit acts with a cherubic benevolence that makes you realize the kid he's playing is a true believer -- and all the sexier for it.
Fugit displays the same unsickly sweetness that made him such a pleasure in "Almost Famous."
From her roles in the outstanding "Donnie Darko" to the painful "Life as a House," Malone has perfected the mildly concerned look, marked by a far away glance and crooked half-smile--and it's worked for her.
Jena Malone (previously best known as Donnie Darko’s girlfriend) makes a sweet, appealing lead and there’s strong comic support from the rest of the cast, particularly Heather Matarazzo and Mandy Moore, who seizes the chance to poke fun at her own goody-two-shoes image.