Review of Blue Like Jazz (2012) by Thomas W — 11 Sep 2012

Blue Like Jazz ends up being a pretty-good, earnest religious-themed movie. I oftentimes feel terrible trashing a film with a religious message and I am sure some read my reviews and instantly judge my person as a heathen with no morals simply because I dislike(d) a movie that has drawn some inspiration from the Holy Bible.

I don't love, like or dislike a movie because of of who is in it or what it is about. That this is even a foreign concept to some is rather amazing; but it isn't the subject matter of a movie that upsets me or makes me dislike it.

I am objective with ALL films I watch (and it is heartbreaking to loathe a Kate Winslet film!) and it doesn't please me to bash a film that has several scenes that take place in a church. To me, a film has to be "well-done" and respectably made .

.. film's don't get free-rides because the main character is a Christian (although here ... he's in hiding). Based on a novel by Donald Miller -- said to be semi-autobiographical -- it is the story of a devoutly religious, college-aged Texas boy, Don (Marshall Allman -- "True Blood", "Prison Break") who helps lead his church youth group and who is planning on attending a local college in order to stay close to his divorced mother and remain active in his much-loved church.

This all changes, though, when he sees first-hand the hypocrisy of a SINGLE person within that church (keep in mind it is one individual and NOT an attack/assault on ANY religious institution). Instead, Don uproots his life and drives to Reed College in Portland, Oregon (where he had been enrolled by father in order to see other viewpoints) which is a liberal bastion of tolerance (unless you are religious .

.. although, again, NOT all are intolerant ... just some). Blue Like Jazz readily puts somes stereotypes on full-display but ALWAYS as an individual example and NEVER as an all-emcompassing composite. Broad generalities are dangerous and that is just one of the many messages on-hand in Blue Like Jazz.

Don has been so hurt by they hypocrisy of ONE that he hides all he has believed in until he wisens-up enough to see that we are all merely human getting by day-by-day. The film has decent production values which many start-up Christian production companies lack -- and poor production values (to me) are beyond distracting and they sadly make a "films" impossible to recommend.

This isn't the case here and the story is both realistic and universal. People are so quick to judge another; but we must remember we are ALL human. "To err is human to forgive divine." NOBODY shouldn't forget this.