coyotecall-1 Frankly, when the "Previews" began prior to this movie running on DVD they seem to set the tone that what was to follow was going to be one of those "Christian" movies, the kind that are selling a particular religious point of view. My finger was on the "Off" button from the beginning and just about 80% through....but little by little I found myself relaxing about that "issue" and at the end was sold on this: this is a fine movie, well written, acted and directed and if the only message anyone takes away from this is one about compassion and empathy for fellow human beings, then that's all that has to be said. I guess at 78 I'm older than most of the people who come to this page, I don't even know what "IMDb" stands for....and it doesn't matter to me, but my age means that I go back quite a ways when considering the numbers of movies watched. With that in mind I'll use my time-in-grade to claim high ground for this one, it is one of the best....ever. I'd watch it again, and I do that very, very rarely.

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.

jim-nikkel I am a huge fan of the book "Blue Like Jazz" and was so looking forward to the movie. I felt this was a great opportunity to produce a Christian film that would be authentic, could show what Christianity really could be, something based on an authentic relationship with Jesus, something really quite beautiful.To say I was disappointed with the movie is an understatement. For those of you who have read the book and really loved its essence, its soul, how relationships with the key characters were developed, how his relationship with Jesus was developed and experienced, you will be disappointed too.The thing about the book was it was so authentic, so real, so honest. The movie is none of those things. To say it is a loose interpretation of the book is giving this movie too much credit. It is not an honest and authentic portrayal of the book.I feel like in some ways Donald Miller sold out - that is, he allowed a movie to be produced that is not an accurate depiction of how he got to Reed college, his key "struggle" is fabricated, acts of deviance are fabricated, the whole movie is really a fabrication.I was so sad. What a great opportunity missed.

Joe Church My wife and I saw the movie last night. Here are my thoughts. First, I think the characters were pretty good, there was depth and complexity which was nice. The actors did a great job, it actually felt like I was watching a "real movie" and not some Christian flick with acting and dialog that was "too perfect". It felt very "real". The movie was thought provoking and makes you think about many things in our Christian culture.I was especially challenged by some aspects of the movie regarding how I see others, people who are typically the object of rejection and disgust among Christians, people who have their sin or troubles personified by other Christians and thus receive rejection and self-righteousness from people who should be loving them and trying to help. The idea of misrepresenting God was powerful.A final though, the people who dislike this movie the most, are probably the very ones who needs to hear its message the most. So thank you for doing this. I hope it starts a new trend in "Christian films".