fisher-n-jacob As a fan of Don's book and a Christian I won't lie that I was very excited to see what this movie had to offer. As a filmmaker though I was skeptical and even a bit upset to see that one of my favorite books was going to be made into a "Christian movie". (most of which I think don't deserve to even be called movies much less art). I was pleasantly surprised. Blue Like Jazz doesn't deserve the rather discouraging term of a "Christian movie". It is in fact a film that is on the level of any other independent of its stature. The writing was very good and realistic though not perfect by any means I am happy to say that I think the screenplay matches up with any average indie in the same budget range. The acting was very skillful and well done I was more than happy with almost every characters performance within the film. A pleasant surprise for many independents. Perhaps my favorite thing is that this movie is actually art. Its not a Christian movie trying to be an actual movie that has a terrible sermon like ending with 1- dimensional characters and horrible stereotypes (though the film is guilty of a bit of that) It's a real movie. This movie is something that I think almost any viewer could watch no matter their religious views and feel like they've seen a real story that they can get something out of. A great movie to watch that just happens to deal with spirituality and a young mans struggle to decide for himself what he believes in life. I think this film accurately portrays a certain experience we all go through in life. Having our ideas challenged and having to face the facts and decide from there. This film is perfect by no means but i'm happy to say that I think it is a great piece of art that just so happens to have some people who believe in the teachings of Jesus involved in it.

Mr. E Blue Like Jazz? Blue Like the Emergent Church apparently.How can this film be described other than an idealized portrayal of how a dysfunctional American Christianity should interact with a seemingly liberalizing American society? When two polar opposite cultures are placed in one location how can co-existence occur? Compromise, Rebellion, Humility, and Apology appear to be the answer by the end of the film. The American Liberal view of how American Christianity ought to operate is idealized in this film: Accept us for who we are, look the other way, and apologize. However, the book from which this movie is based on is 100% fiction as is the movie.This film appears to be the dream of the Emergent Church's Post-Modern idealization of how Christianity ought to be. From the beginning the pain and dysfunction of each character is quite readily evident which in turn reflects the pain and dysfunction of Christianity as represented by the church in the United States. Our brave main character, Don, comes from an average Southern Christian background when his world is destroyed when he finds out his divorced mother is having an affair with the youth pastor of whom he is very close with. This is unacceptable, so with the help of his apparently dysfunctional drop-out liberal father's offer, our young lead sets out on a trip to the notorious Reed college in the Pacific Northwest in order that he may find himself. After denying his heritage and beliefs throughout the movie he attempts to gain acceptance from his peers in an 'enlightened' environment. (What exactly the Post-Modern Church wants to do to try to win people over.) He is further inflamed when he finds out his mother is pregnant. This event then appears to further solidify his new found acceptance through his compromise of values when he is suddenly rocked by his love-interest's discovery of the God and the healing that he had abandoned in his old life. Through a series of events he is drawn back to the church which culminates to the ending where he is setup as a pope figure using his position in a role-reversal manner to apologize for how his faith (Conservative Christianity) has damaged the people of Reed College in some way. The movie then ends.Fortunately this movie is 100% fiction with a cliché event at every corner to mirror that of most Christian films. Like most of the Post-Modern Emergent church's teachings, the audience is left to wonder what is going on. The movie ends with the lead character apologizing to a line of people who are there to see 'the pope' about how Christianity has messed up their life. We never discover what happens to any of the characters. Instead we are left with questions such as: Did Don restore his relationship with God? with his mother? the youth pastor? his father? the love-interest? Is redemption possible? Are all people equally messed up no matter what their belief is? Does God even exist? What is truth? This film appears to paint a picture of post-modern madness quite clearly.

Melissa Bears. Tall Bikes. Beer. Three things that appear in the Blue Like Jazz movie along with a writer's ability to tell a story, a producer's faith in the project, and thousands of willing fans that want to make history. When I first read the Blue Like Jazz book I was intrigued. Donald Miller spoke about faith and spirituality in a fresh way that I coming from a more conservative background had been only recently encountering since I had attended college the three years previous (to reading the book). I was hooked from the start because I felt like I was speaking with Donald Miller at a coffee shop about his views on faith, Jesus, religion, and fathers. When I heard the movie was coming, it took a while for me to be on board. I was one of the first to be dedicated, and then I saw how important it was that this story came into being. The story follows a young (and moderately fictionalized) Don Miller as he enters in freshman year at Reed College in Portland Oregon. Trying to escape infidelity and hypocrisy of his Texas Baptist roots, he seeks acceptance in all forms: getting drunk, making fun of God, drinking more beer, riding tall bikes, civil disobedience, and drinking more beer. Don faces the reality that most college freshman do - they feel like a astronaut in a robot invasion, just slightly out of place and trying desperately to belong. In addition, many Christian students, as they transition into new phases like college test God - to prove them that putting their faith in Him has not been a waste. And Don feels his 19 years as Texas Baptist have been a waste, so he tries to escape. But Don realizes that no matter how much he tries to escape God, he has failed. He realizes there is brokenness in the world - youth pastors mess up, parents let you down, people have affairs, cooperations screw over the little guy but in spite of that there is a lot of good in the world. When the movie is over, many of the character's questions of "where is meaning in life" and "Why would God let this happen to my life" and "Where is God in the broken crap of our lives" remain to be fully answered. The real Donald Miller and Producer Steve Tyler want us to question that for ourselves and come to our own answers. I appreciate that this movie doesn't wrap up nicely. Many "Christian" movies or many sentimental (they are not always one in the same, but many are) try to have a perfect little ending to their movie - with the answer to the deep questions of life easily spelled out. But you can't answer these deep questions in a two hour movie and I think Blue Like Jazz really does a great job at this. This isn't your typical Christian movie. In fact I used the term "Christian" with hesitance. Does it have a nice ending? No. Does it have a lot of sentimentality? No. But does it talk about Jesus - absolutely. Does it wrestle with hard, deep Christian themes - of course. But beware - if you don't like beer, tall bikes, or bear costumes this movie may not be for you. But maybe give it a chance and do something out of the ordinary and see this movie. It is one of the best I have seen all year.

jbmister46 Blue Like Jazz follows the same formula used by John Moyer in his movies about Mormonism. The questioning believer is critical of his faith but eventually finds meaning in joining a church, usually through his interest in a desirable female believer. See John Moyer's the Returned Missionary. It's basically the same story. In this case, non-believers are depicted by the residents of a secular college as being raucous, injured and without direction. Christians are shown as tolerant, generous and kind. Non-believer's lives are mired in self-absorption, while the Christian character is generously giving her time to traveling to a troubled third world community. What she actually accomplishes there is not revealed. The viewer is left to wonder whether she is giving any substantial relief or is there to proselytize. While the supposed virtues of a Christian life is alluded to, the film never tackles the difficult challenges about historical accuracy and factual evidence put forth by its critics. It simply asserts that non-believers and Christian critics live empty non-fulfilling lives, and Christian's lives are wholesome, peaceful and fulfilling. This is illustrated when the main character comes to his senses, recommits to his religion, and most importantly, gets the girl. The female prize is no ordinary female, but a high quality, highly desirable, attractive, intelligent, caring, wise, and endlessly forgiving white Anglo-Saxon female. This is exactly the prize bait used by Moyer in his movies about the Mormon religion; that is until John Moyer renounced his membership and gave up the religion.