Blue Like Jazz
Directed by: Steve Taylor
Cast: Marshall Allman, Claire Holt, Jason Marsden, Justin Welborn
Running Time: 1 hr 47 mins
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: April 13, 2012 (Chicago)
PLOT: A young man (Allman) with extremely religious roots leaves his Southern Baptist bubble to enter the "most godless college in America," located in Portland, Oregon. While there, he meets a political young girl (Holt) and a punk who dresses up as the pope (Welbern).
WHO'S IT FOR? If you're tired of cheesy religious movies, or crazy people ruining the positive aspects of faith, this movie is definitely for you. That being said, it's the rare type of religiously-focused movie that will give the Ned Flanders' of America a true heart attack.
OVERALL
It's not any type of revelation to say that a great deal of religious entertainment can be substandard to mainstream entertainment, and not just in the discussion of budget. Often, (though not always), movies, music, and literature with an underlying religious message can be corny, or too obvious. It's arguable that some religious entertainment loses its entertainment value because it becomes so sterilized when walking on egg shells to depict the world outside of the sacred buildings. Even worse, while the ideas behind this religious art can involve reaching out to those who may not be on the "team" yet, such art really only preaches to the choir. However sincere the inspiration may be, religious entertainment tends to lock itself up in a box, with no peep-hole to the ugly (and yes, sometimes sinful) doings of the outside world.
Enter into limited theaters Blue Like Jazz, a movie that carries the "R" word, but also features a comical scene in which someone dressed up as the pope says he is on PCP. Or, a scene in which the film's main character, raised a hardcore Southern Baptist in Texas, pukes in an alleyway from drinking too much, in a montage dedicated to the idea of "fitting in."
Focused on a young man's desire to be accepted in an exaggerated school, Blue Like Jazz looks like quirky PG-13 comedies such as It's Kind of A Funny Story or The Art of Getting By. It offers a type of blend between the look of popular art and the eventual goal of religious entertainment (though even saying "religious" feels like a spoiler alert for this film). Nonetheless, it's likely to stress out the strict religious folk, in more ways than one. Considering this movie's good intentions, their grief will be their own problem.
What makes Blue Like Jazz so likable, even for those who may not even assign themselves to any sort of religious belief, is that it has no problem playing ball with sin, or blasphemy. It is confident that its audience will get the right idea from its story which has so many "wild" events, and it knows that "protecting" religious viewers from these things will only hurt the believability of such a story. There are large chunks in this movie that simply work like a mainstream college comedy about fitting in, with numerous shenanigans involved (granted, there's no pre-marital sex, and hardly any cussing).
As a film, Blue Like Jazz is not without some glaring weaknesses. It's not very funny, even when its story simply wants to be a quirky comedy. And even though it's the second movie that he's directed, Miller makes the rookie mistake of using a story's arc to frame his narrative. It's an obvious tactic that has been worn out by many films of similar structure - complete with a narrator with a wild imagination who learns with us about the story's events through patches of voiceover. Though Allman's lead performance as the religious fish out of water is commendable, even he can't spruce up this script device to feel fresh.
As Blue Like Jazz presents America's most godless college, it doesn't immediately condemn those that are against religion. Instead, as I believe all religions and religious communities should be about, Blue Like Jazz is a little winner because it genuinely promotes acceptance. It stands itself as the efficient good that can come when all people are at least open to new ideas.
FINAL SCORE: 6/10