Blue Like Jazz

Steve Taylor's film is based on Donald Miller's titular 2003 spiritual memoir, specifically focusing on the author's intellectual liberation at Oregon's free-spirited Reed College. Marshall Allman stars as 18-year-old Miller, a committed Southern Baptist who abandons a Houston denominational college to attend Reed after discovering that his mother is having an affair with their church's youth minister. Miller quickly succumbs to the campus's raucous but stimulating atmosphere, falling in with blonde activist Penny (Claire Holt), self-aware lesbian Lauryn (Tania Raymonde), and a spectacularly flamboyant provocateur who dresses in ecclesiastical garb and is called the Pope (Justin Welborn). In this highly secular atmosphere, Miller adopts a pose of hostility to religion that he overcomes only after participating in a nasty prank at a local church that he instantly regrets. Blue Like Jazz—the title refers to the notion that in life, as in the blues, there are no easy resolutions—may disturb devout viewers with its portrait of a youngster falling away from faith in a hedonistic atmosphere, but it actually fits into an established tradition of narratives about lapsed Christians finding redemption. An earnest, well-intentioned film that is a welcome change from strident religious movies that make their points with sledgehammer blows, this still lacks the level of subtlety and structure needed to truly do justice to its themes. Optional. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include audio commentary (by author Donald Miller, cinematographer Ben Pearson, and director Steve Taylor), a “making-of” featurette (12 min.), production featurettes on the soundtrack (6 min.) and the cast (4 min.), “Master Class: Directing Actors on Set” (4 min.), “Save Blue Like Jazz” on funding (3 min.), “This is My Story” promo (3 min.), “The Animator” on visual effects producer Jonathan Richter (2 min.), deleted shots (2 min.), a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)