Blue Like Jazz (The Movie)

On Thursday, March 1st I found free tickets to see an advance screening of the movie Blue Like Jazz. A couple of years ago Dan and I read the book with our church's Young Adult group. We really enjoyed the book and so we thought it would be fun to see the movie! Our friends, Jason and Rachel, also read the book with us, so they joined us.

On Thursday, March 15th the four of us met up just outside the AMC Showplace in Naperville. It was about 5:00 pm, and we had an hour until the "event" started, so we went to Houlihan's for dinner. Honestly, we chose Houlihan's because it was gorgeous outside and it was virtually the only place that had outdoor seating - other than sushi.

At about 6:00 pm we started walking towards the movie theater. It was then that we noticed a Blue Like Jazz van/tour bus.

"Let's ask someone to take our picture in front of the bus!" I suggested.

So we did just that. We strolled up to the tour bus and asked a young roadie to snap a quick photo of us in front of the tour bus. He was super friendly and took his time setting us up for a nice photo. After we thanked the guy for taking our photo, Rachel asked what "event" was scheduled to take place before the screening.

"Oh, Donald Miller (the book's author), Steve Taylor (the movie director), and Marshall Allman (the lead actor, playing Donald Miller) are here and will do a meet and greet with the audience before the movie. They'll also do some Q and A after the movie."

WHAT?!?

We were all pleasantly surprised to hear that they were all just inside the tour bus, chillin'... just waiting to come out and meet their fans. Needless to say, we hung around the tour bus and several minutes later we weren't the only ones.

At about 6:30 Donald, Steve, and Marshall stepped out and got ready to meet their fans. Right away, Steve stepped up to me, held out his hand, and politely introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Steve. Would you like a Twizzler?" Sure enough, he handed me a single, wrapped Twizzler. His jacket was loaded with Twizzlers and he handed them out to everyone! Donald and Marshall also took the time to meet and greet our fabulous foursome.

"How about a picture?" Donald asked with a cheerful smile. Naturally, we jumped at the opportunity to snap a picture with all three guys.

I couldn't help but feel unprepared as I held out my ticket (which was a black and white email printed out on plain paper) and asked Donald to sign it. Still, I was grateful to have something for him to sign.

Rachel and Jason recognized Marshall from the TV show, True Blood. So I snapped a picture of them just with Marshall. Marshall is no longer on True Blood, but he told us to watch for him on Justified.

Later, as the guys continued to meet and greet their fans (handing out Twizzlers every step of the way), I noticed a fan holding a 4x6 postcard with a picture of the movie poster on it. As he walked my way I asked him where he got it.

"They had some of these inside the theater," he politely explained. "Would you like him to sign it? You can have it."

I smiled and thanked him for the postcard. Rachel the proceeded to locate one for herself. Then we went back and asked all three guys for an autograph - which they were pleased to do so. After Rachel and I got our autographs we met up with Dan and Jason, who were waiting in a long line, to go into the theater.

Upon entering the theater we received a bag of goodies (fliers and information about the movie and other projects that they were supporting) as well as a survey to fill out after the movie. The theater was packed!

Now, if you are expecting a Christian movie like Fireproof or Courageous (both good movies), you're probably going to be disappointed. Blue Like Jazz portrays a very realistic lifestyle of a young man who goes away to Reed College to basically run away from God. Reed College is one of the most godless colleges in existence. It is a college where people go to express their desires and beliefs, but being Christian is certainly not acceptable. There is plenty of drinking, drugs, and partying to earn a solid PG-13 rating. While the language gets a bit edgy (you'll hear at least one of every swear at least once, minus the f-bomb), I still think that the true image of Reed College is much more godless than what was portrayed. The foul language wasn't extreme by any means, but it was certainly enough to get their point across.

After reading the book, the movie is just what I expected and I sincerely enjoyed it. Much like the book, the movie doesn't sugarcoat how real life can be when you're trying to escape God. Doing things you wouldn't normally do... saying things you wouldn't normally say... all in the process of trying to figure out how you can push God out of your life. Not everyone has gone to such extreme measures as Donald Miller, but I'm sure at one point in your life you rebelled against God because you weren't sure what you believed.

While some details were modified for the movie, the overall story is true and very powerful. Ultimately, this movie is good for people of all ages - well, 13 and up anyway. We may try and try and try to run our lives without God, even to the point of really pushing Him away, but He'll still be there... following you. Waiting... waiting for you to come back to Him.

I'm not going to share the ending, but I'll say this much... it's fantastic and it leaves Christians with a strong challenge. A challenge that may even be difficult for even strong Christians to accept. It's a challenge I would like to incorporate into my testimony when I share with unbelievers.

PS - This is my 200th blog post! Woohoo!