So, now I’m getting emails from people, asking why I’m so negative toward Blue Like Jazz: The Movie. Let me state unequivocally, I’m not against the movie. I haven’t seen it! (One person has offered to buy me a ticket.)

As background, I’m picky about my movies. While I did recently see Hot Tub Time Machine on Netflix, I tend to only watch movies that have scores above 70 on Rotten Tomatoes. I care what critics think. I don’t care much what the American movie-going public thinks. I will never see the Twilight movies. I will see The Hunger Games.

The critics don’t like BLJ. That means that I probably won’t like it, either. My tastes in movies tends to follow the critics’.

But that’s not what’s bothered me about BLJ. What bugs me is all of the people who suggest that I have an obligation to see the movie because it’s Christian — and not just Christian, but slightly progressive Christian. “We need more movies like BLJ,” shout my friends on Facebook, “So let’s all go see it and keep it afloat!” Some even want me to buy extra tickets, just to increase the film’s revenue.

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So, I’m wondering if any of you saw Blue Like Jazz over it’s opening weekend. As expected, I saw many posts like this on Facebook:

That’s right, it’s a Christian’s duty to buy tickets for this movie, even if you can’t go, in order to send the message to the fat cats in Hollywood that we want more movies like this.

It seems the “crucial” opening weekend didn’t go so well. BLJ came in 20th at the box office, according to Variety, behind even John Carter. It did make more per theater than John Carter, because BLJ was only in 136 theaters. This weekend, BLJ made 1% of the number one movie, Hunger Games.

The comments left on my earlier post and the FB posts and tweets I read about the movie ranged from “Meh” to “Everyone seemed like a sophomoric cartoon of real people.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, there seems to be a split between critics and fans:

So, I’m wondering if you saw it. And, if so, what did you think?