Blue Like Jazz 2012

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: The outcome rarely seems out of God's hands, and the filmmaking is low-budget-earnest to the point of drabness - it's not a movie to make converts. Read more

Rachel Saltz, New York Times: Don's crisis of faith, which should be the movie's core and engine, is never really convincing. It's spelled out but dramatically inert, lost among the yuks of the Reed kookiness. Read more

Tom Keogh, Seattle Times: This is a movie with heart but too many distractions. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: It's a glorious anomaly: a subtle, sophisticated, open-minded, and courageously non-judgmental Christian film even non-believers can enjoy. Hallelujah! Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: An uncommon thoughtfulness about spiritual issues distinguishes this otherwise generic coming-of-age story. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: The film's heart is in the right place; it just can't make the rest of its parts function smoothly. Read more

Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times: An overlong mishmash of coming-of-age comedy, social satire and spiritual think-piece whose ultimate stance on religion feels awfully fuzzy. Read more

Farran Smith Nehme, New York Post: "Blue Like Jazz" is a pleasant film, as well-intentioned as the character Don himself, but it ducks the thorniest questions of faith and dogma while patting itself on the back for realism. Read more

Barbara Vancheri, Philadelphia Inquirer: Read more

David Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle: It tackles existential struggles that many of us grapple with - and the film industry virtually ignores - while doing so in an entertaining way. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: May be more nuanced than the usual Left Behind fire-and-brimstone sermonizing you find in much contemporary pro-Christian cinema, but it still leaves behind a sulfuric stink. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: Just earnest enough to blend its religious theme with a beer-chugging hero for a surprisingly contemporary look at faith. Read more

Benjamin Mercer, Village Voice: One only has so much patience ... for watching Communion-wafer-thin characters caught in a liberal-arts cartoon. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: It is - somewhat surprisingly, given the heavy-handed subject - neither sanctimonious nor preachy. Read more