Movie Review – Blue Like Jazz

Blue Like Jazz (2012) – The fictionalized story of author Donald Miller’s adventures as a Southern Baptist from Texas at the very liberal Reed College in Portland Oregon.  Sometimes called “the most godless college in America” the culture at Reed will challenge Miller’s belief in God and in himself.

Based loosely on the best selling book of the same name “Blue Like Jazz” has an almost insurmountable task.  To take a book that is absolutely NOT written to translate to the big screen and translate it to the big screen.  I read and loved the book.  It is an astounding, non-linear tale that allows Miller the chance to step and out of the his story to discuss various points with his own idiosyncratic style.  A couple of those make their way into the movie without any explanation which must have been deeply confusing to people who had never read the book.

What bothers me most about the movie is that it ends up feeling like the movie makers see themselves as better than just about everyone in the movie.  The Christians are mostly posers and hypocrites (have to admit that there’s a “youth group” scene near the beginning that demonstrates just about everything you could do wrong in that setting), people with only an appearance of any kind of moral or theological understanding.  The students at Reed are hedonistic, self aggrandizing and self centered.  Their moral and philosophical depth is every bit as thin as the Christians they enjoy lambasting.  It just makes for some very shallow and uncomfortable viewing as you keep hoping that the movie will try for something deeper from the great source material.

It never really happens.  They do use my absolute favorite moment in the book as the climax of the movie.  So there are some good moments in the movie.  The only really likeable characters are the Pope (not THE Pope but a Reed student has been declared the Reed Pope for the year) played by Justin Welborn and the love interest (and I’m pretty sure Episcopalian.  You look at her church, listen to the bits of the service and tell me that’s not an Episcopal church) Penny played by Claire Holt.  Along with Miller (played by Marshall Allman) these three are the core of the movie.  They are also the only real reason to sit through the rest of cardboard cutout remainder of the film.

If you have anything else to do I’d say pass on this movie and do it.

Rating – ** Not Impressed