Wick's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Chet Baker was bodaciously gifted. The James Dean of Jazz had his own style of cool, West Coast Swing.

Plus, he was supermodel handsome. Ethan Hawke – the moviestar who plays Chet Baker – isn’t nearly as handsome as Baker was, even allowing for Hawke being in his 40s, playing a music idol in his 20s and 30s.

Baker was also a serious musician, a commercially successful one. Pity then that he was a heroin addict.

Junkies are so predictable. The fix is their goal above all else, leading Chet Baker into some spectacularly bad situations. In fact, bad choices were among his drugs of choice. This downbeat biopic wallows in them.

Born To Be Blue can’t escape Baker’s blue life, even as it captures his brand of tragic artistic celebrity.

Acting - Great 4.0

Ethan Hawke can count Chet Baker as one of his Known Fors. Hawke specializes in sharp looking guys who live life on the edge. Playing one of the 20th Century’s great musicians, who lived life as a junkie, counts. Nevermind giving up over a decade to the young Baker he’s playing, Hawke is equal to this exceptional character and just as intense. Oscar should come calling for the 5th time in Hawke’s career.

Supporting Cast

• Carmen Ejogo is smart & sexy as his wife and girlfriend, yes two characters
• Stephen McHattie as Chet Baker’s dad, Chesney Baker, Sr.
• Janet-Laine Green as his mom, Vera Baker
• Kevin Hanchard as Dizzy Gillespie

Film - Great 4.0

Robert Budreau has made Chet Baker the centerpiece of his filmaking career, Born to Be Blue being his second Chet Baker film.

Edge - Sordid 3.0

Chet Baker reaped what he sowed.

Reality - Glib 1.8

Born to Be Blue dips strongly into circumstantial surrealism. It doesn’t deign to say Inspired by True Events, yet Inspired is the operative verb.

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