[8] Variety's reviewer, Andrew Barker, noted that the film is "about a character who happens to share a name and a significant number of biographical similarities with Chet Baker, taking the legendary West Coast jazz musician's life as though it were merely a chord chart from which to launch an improvised set of new melodies".

[2] Set largely in 1966, Baker (portrayed by Ethan Hawke) is hired to play himself in a movie about his earlier years when he first tried heroin.

In October 2014, it was announced that Ethan Hawke had joined the cast portraying the role of Chet Baker, with Robert Budreau directing from a screenplay he wrote.

[13] Hawke had taken trumpet lessons from Ben Promane,[14] and requested video of Turcotte recording, in order to mime the playing during the shoot.

It holds an 88% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10 and critical consensus being: "Born to Be Blue benefits from a highlight-reel performance from Ethan Hawke and an impressionistic, non-hagiographic approach to Chet Baker's life and times".