This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Happy Days
Plot Overview
As summer vacation winds down, soon-to-be seniors at
Maryland's American Eagle Christian High School get in their
last hurrahs. They soon gather for assembly where they're given
opportunity to rededicate their lives to the Lord. They're exhorted
to love one another. They put on a school play, Jesus Christ
Superstar, of particular relevance to one student in
particular, per Professor Rhiannon Graybill, wherein “the
role of the excluded queer is played by Judas” (193). This
“Judas” is consigned by his parents to a Christian
treatment center—as if that will do any good. Then comes
Halloween. Here the narrowness of the straight and narrow way
walked by the Christians, squeezing their lifestyle options,
seems to transfer to a limited selection of costumes resulting in
dupes.
They have a Christmas pageant and the
one Jewess among them has a fake conversion to enjoy all the
seasonal delights. The senior prom comes all too soon, and having
sorted out what to wear and who goes with whom, there's still the
matter of who gets to ride in the ambulance.
Overall there's an atmosphere of
Christian celebration, which might put one in mind of, say, an age
of chivalry in days of yore:
Scarcely had
Lancelot returned to the hall when he heard that a miracle had occurred,
and together the whole company rushed down to the river-side. There they
saw that the rumour was true, for they one and all
beheld a heavy stone floating down the stream. Amazed at the sight,
they gazed yet more earnestly, till they perceived that a costly
weapon was sunk deep in the stone. At last the stone came to land,
and as the knights crowded round it they saw on this weapon an
inscription warning all that none but a peerless knight should
attempt to draw it out, upon penalty of a grievous punishment. As
they read, the knights of the Round Table modestly drew back from
the task, for each in his heart was conscious of some sin.
(298)
Ideology
The Health
Department made the school include sex education in its curriculum.
We see Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan) the new principal with an
illustration of male & female forms in front of the class. He
explains that the idea is to wait, to not get “jiggy”
until marriage. And that's it.
He and his own wife are separated as they couldn't get along and
he wouldn't consent to the divorce she asked for. That's against
God's standard which is, (1Cor. 7:2-5) “to avoid
fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman
have her own husband. Let the husband render unto the wife due
benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the
husband. The wife hath not power of her own body, but the
husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own
body but the wife. Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with
consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and
prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your
incontinency.” They are supposed to be available to meet each
other's needs, and there shouldn't be any divorce. (1Cor. 7:10-11) “And unto the
married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart
from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried
or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away
his wife.” His wayward wife is putting him in jeopardy
(“[She] has her missionary position, and I have
responsibilities running the school.”) The school board
might have done well to consider this vulnerability before
hiring him. And his wife should be thinking in terms of
reconciliation rather than divorce.
J.B Mozley, D.D., describes in a sermon, “the position which men put themselves most commonly into, when they first experience the attacks of a particular temptation, is a kind of midway one. They do not rush immediately into sin, and they do not put themselves out of reach of it either. The sin has sufficient charms for them, to make them unwilling to cut themselves off from all chance of ultimately indulging it; and at the same time they do not venture actually and at once upon it. So they tamper with their desire, and play with the temptation.” (6)
Widow mother
Lillian (Mary-Louise Parker) is active in Christian activities and
finds Pastor Skip attractive. She slaps him on the back at a
conference (“What's shakin', Skip!”) They have dinner
meetings to discuss church doings. After prolonged exposure, she
comes right out and says, “I feel good when I'm with you. I
think you feel good too.” She's on a roll. “I wonder
why God would give us these feelings of happiness if what we're
doing is wrong.” She uses her hand to sweep away the clutter
on the table between them and then says, “Kiss me.”
From there it's a slippery slope into an affair. God's feeling
expressed by Jesus is, (Mark 9:43-44) “And if thy hand
offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life
maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that
never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire
is not quenched.” It's better to cut off the offending hand
than to go to the bad place. Or a less extreme solution is to just
sit on it, or at least keep it to herself.
Lillian's daughter Mary (Jena Malone) has a “perfect boyfriend” Dean (Chad Faust) who was consigned to an institution when his parents caught him with gay porn. Unfortunately, his roommate Mitch (Kett Turton) is “here for the same reason as me. He's the worst one here.” It's a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire. But Dean is an athlete well able to walk where he wants to. (Mark 9:45-46) “And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” It's better to lose a foot and be unable to make it back to his room than to go to the bad place. Or he could run away.
Mary lost her
dad when she was three; he went to be with the angels. Her life is
centered on Jesus whose picture is everywhere. To her JC is only a baby step away in
heaven. This movie opens with her and Dean playing a lame game of
telling each other secrets in the swimming pool. We see a
longhaired carpenter stripped to the waist and working on the
deck at the end of the pool. When Dean comes out to her
underwater, she is stunned and bumps her head trying to
surface. The carpenter dives in coming down to save her, and she
sees him as a vision of the Lord, telling her, “Dean needs
you now, you must do all you can to help him.” She cycles
through all four bases to go all the way, figuring Jesus will
restore her virginity, since she did it for Him. Only later does
she recognize it as sin. As in the earlier instances Jesus feels,
(Mark 9:47-48) “And if
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter
into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be
cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is
not quenched.” It would be better to be blind and saved than
to see “Jesus” and go to the bad place. She should have
been able to figure this out, though to be sure she didn't have
much help from her protectors who had the same problem as she. For
all the help they were able to give her, they might as well have
been subscribing to the Playboy philosophy.
Production Values
“” (2004) was
directed by Brian Dannelly. It was written by Brian Dannelly and
Michael Urban. It stars Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, and Macaulay Culkin.
Malone excelled as Mary and her voice-over narration was excellent too.
Her character's despair when she realizes she'd ostensibly been
blindsided by Jesus is like none seen in a very long time.
MPA rated it PG–13 for strong thematic
issues involving teens – sexual content, pregnancy, smoking
and language. The script was very good in using understated
sarcasm. Contemporary religion received a fair shake. Some of it
was quite funny. It was filmed in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
Runtime ≈ 1½ hours.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The nativity story was standard but presented in an
unfamiliar (modern) Bible translation. This one is seriously dark
comedy and most suitable for Christians who are secure in their
faith. I'd spent my early Christian days in Christian communes and
was not overly surprised by its content.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for Groups. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
Works Cited
Scripture was quoted from the Authorized Version, Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.
Graybill, Rhiannon. "Rock Me Sexy Jesus?: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Films." Appearing in editor Richard Walsh, T&T Clark Companion to the Bible and Film. Copyright © Richard Walsh, 2018. London: T&T Clark, 2018. Print.
Guerber, H.A. Myths & Legends Of the Middle Ages. Reprint of the 1909 ed. Book Tower, Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1974. Print.
Mozley D.D., J.B. Sermons Parochial and Occasional. New York: E.P. Dutton and Co., 1880. Print.
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