‘Springsteen Deliver Me From Nowhere’ Review

When it comes to biopics, musical or otherwise, a film can either be life-spanning, tracking every key event from birth to death like a cinematic Wikipedia article, or hyper-focused on a specific, crucial time in the person’s life. ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ goes the latter route, fixating on Bruce Springsteen’s development of ‘Nebraska’ in the early 1980s as he struggles with depression and the demands of superstardom. This film, sadly, lacks the heartfelt originality of that album, delivering a glum and uninteresting biopic-by-numbers.

As ‘Springsteen’ opens, Bruce (Jeremy Allen White) is returning to his quiet home in New Jersey after completing a raucous, high energy tour during which he performed his ever-growing list of commercial hits. Alone in the state he grew up, Bruce reflects on his loving mother, his alcoholic father, and the traumatic childhood that he keeps running away from. In this troubled headspace, Springsteen shirks the more commercially minded expectations of his record label to work on a dark, melancholy folk album inspired by his own abuse as well as the tragic stories dominating the news.

This film, like so many musical biopics before it and the untold ones to come, relies on fans of the musician to watch it, and confuse enjoying Springsteen’s music with enjoying the film itself. The storytelling can be as generic as possible so long as you toss in a classic Springsteen song every fifteen minutes or so. But speaking as a Bruce Springsteen fan, I found the film wholly dull and dour. What are the stakes? Where’s the tension? ‘Nebraska’ is an unconventional album, sure, but at the same time Springsteen is recording that album we watch him record the eventual mega-hit ‘Born in the USA’. And even with ‘Nebraska’, it’s not like any of the characters actually push back on Bruce. Even the stereotypically greedy label executive played by David Krumholtz goes along with all of Springsteen’s creative decisions with nary a hesitation, even though nobody quite shares Bruce’s specific vision. In place of genuine conflict, we get two hours of Bruce coming off as a self important jerk, lashing out at anybody and everybody who doesn’t immediately get on board with his ideas, failing to see how much everybody in his life bends over backwards to support his artistic demands.

It is always a challenge depicting the creative process on film, but the visual storytelling of ‘Springsteen’ fails that challenge spectacularly. In one scene, Bruce is writing the lyrics to ‘Nebraska’, inspired by the true story of Charles Starkweather’s killing spree. We watch in close up as Bruce crosses out “he” and “him”, replacing them with “I” and “me” in all caps, underlined, funneling his personal pain and trauma into the song with all of the subtlety of a hammer to the head.

This uncreative direction is not limited to Springsteen’s songwriting process, as there isn’t a single surprising or interesting filmmaking decision throughout this trite mess. When people are sad, sad music plays. When people are experiencing emotions, they tell you exactly what they’re feeling and why. And in one scene, when Bruce’s manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) says “In this office, we believe in Bruce Springsteen”, the movie takes a beat as if to allow the audience to rise up in a standing ovation, clapping deliriously.

‘Springsteen’ fails to distinguish itself in a genre filled with formulaic, self serious slop. Driven by his trauma, Bruce alternates between mopey emo kid and angry toddler, justifying his shitty behavior because of his lived pain and because the work is so I M P O R T A N T. The result is a ponderous mess of a film devoid of any joy or insight. Despite reliably great music and strong performances, even if you can feel the actors grasping for Oscars, ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’ is a maudlin disappointment. Better to spend 40 minutes listening to ‘Nebraska’, which is significantly more rewarding and creative than anything happening in this film.

Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some sexuality, strong language, and smoking.
Running Time: 1 hour and 59 minutes

Director Scott Cooper
Writers Scott Cooper
Stars Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young
Rating PG-13
Running Time 119 Minutes
Genres Biography, Drama, Music