To Save a Life

Manages to be appealing, poignant and inspiring in ways that are gentle and quite real. This smartly calibrated film also pulls off something rare by presenting religious commitment as something that's not only potentially healing and elevating, but also kind of cool.

Overlong and entirely too ambitious in the number of “issues” it tries to cover, To Save a Life wanders all over the place before reaching its very predictable conclusions.

Just as representations of human sexuality on film are often unpleasantly twisted by the grotesqueries of the porn industry, so, too, are filmic representations of religious conversion homogenized by the faith-based entertainment industry. Case in point: Debutante director Brian Baugh's To Save a Life.

Miles ahead in terms of production values and a conscious avoidance of overt proselytizing. It will likely be an enormous success with the evangelical communities at which it's targeted. That doesn't save it from being an utter failure outside that narrow context.

To Save a Life wants to rescue kids from the Satanic messages of "Gossip Girl"--a benign, even worthy enough objective, but must alternatives to empty, materialistic adolescence require baptism in the Pacific?

The film would be a mere nuisance if not for its shameless exploitation of school shootings to advance its agenda.

A well-meaning but ineptly made message movie.

this movie is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sad. I mean its a good move but i almost cried 3 times during the movie. i just saw it at youth group. its sooooooooooooooooooooooo good but it will make u cry if u cry during sad movies

OK, let's get this out of the way: It is not a great movie by cinema standards. Shots out of focus, unlikeable characters, and some very cheesy dialogue. However, it is the overall story arch that is pretty decent, and stands out amongst the cringe worthy parts of the film. This is NOT a bible-bashing cram-biblical-verses-in-your-face-until-you-puke-blood type of movie. In fact, the Christianity aspect of the film is actually quite subtle; a pleasant suprise in a Christian film industry of "God's not Dead" or "Persecuted". The story revolves around a young high schooler, who snaps out of his "party boy" niche after Roger, his old best friend, kills himself. He takes a good look at his world, and realizes how empty and vain his existance is, and seeks to try and prevent another depressed kid from sharing the same fate as Roger. This will take him down a path involving Christianity, relationships with his "friends", and the seek for true friends who like him for what he's made of. An interesting aspect of this film is that it portrays some of the more despicable behaviors of so-called "Christians" through a son of the local pastor. Since most Christian films are built upon a foundation of self-righteousness, this is a pleasant suprise. However, the plot does take some odd turns, and the challenges thrown at the protagonist seem to be thrown in there after the writers were locked in a room watching MTV for 24 hours. It includes a bizzare mash-up of infidelity, teen pregnancy, and school terror. This makes the overall plot lose a lot of its steam, but the main ideas of the film should still be taken as good. If you are a Preacher, or Youth PAstor, or Sunday School Teacher, then I recommend playing this film for your youth groups. It takes a sobering look at relevant issues in a way that is not self-righteous or arrogant. Play this instead of other Christian films, like the ones mentioned at the beginning.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Itâ