It appears that every award season there must be at least one musical biopic from a vaguely competent director to fill space in the nominations. In a cynical sense, it might be that it's an easy way to get bums on seats if it's a musician people like, and it's also an easy way to get some nominations. There are some that have done interesting things with the genre – Better Man, Rocketman, Elvis, I'm Not There. There have been some that are passable enough – A Complete Unknown, The United States vs Billie Holliday, Control, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll. Then there are particularly boring ones. Ones that are so uninterested in doing anything new or daring that usually (but not always) have to include the person's name – Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Bob Marley: One Love, Back to Black, Stardust.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere follows Bruce Springsteen (obviously) as he sits on the cusp of superstardom. His record label want an album with enough hit songs to release as singles, his agent is supportive, but Bruce is in emotional turmoil. Into this he begins to write an album that will become Nebraska, his most lauded and celebrated work.
The issue with Springsteen is that the film is a bit of a slog. There's nothing in here that really challenges the genre. Director Scott Cooper, a perfectly fine filmmaker of various genres, does give the film a sense of quiet intensity and style. But, from his casting choices he shows his desire to play things very safe. Jeremy Allen White plays an obsessive guy who pushes people away, Jeremy Strong plays yet another dull rich guy, Paul Walter Hauser plays another schlub hoping to help out and Stephen Graham plays another nasty thug.
Allen White does do his own singing which is to be commended and creates a continuity that lip syncing Oscar winner Rami Malek could never, but he never truly looks like Springsteen. He just looks like that bloke from The Bear but with brown eyes and a check shirt under a leather jacket. His budding romance with Odessa Young's single mother also never really takes off due to a lack of chemistry. Young is actually very good in her underwritten role, imbuing her with a sense of strong will and emotional resilience.
The issue is, like so many biopics, the making of something major is seldom actually exciting. Cooper is wise to focus on one period of Springsteen's life, but there isn't really anything in here that isn't par-the-course for this genre. He had a rough upbringing, he can be a bit difficult, record labels suck, technicians are cool guys, eventually ego gets too much. So what? The Boss himself is a charismatic guy but in White's hand he's just a guy who mopes around.
In the end this Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere may be one for the die-hard Bruce fans over forty, or those who enjoy seeing films where the songs they like appear regularly, but for everyone else this can join the pile of so-so biopics that might take up space in the awards season and then get forgotten very soon afterwards. Decidedly not boss.
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere received a Gala screening at the London Film Festival 2025
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