October 27, 2025 · Watch the trailer
Trying to do too many things at once in cinema is a fatal flaw that can ruin a terrific concept, spoil a magnetic performance, or turn a film into an outright disappointment.
Amidst a wave of biopics about iconic musicians like Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, and Bob Dylan, writer/director Scott Cooper takes a second stab at a musical drama after his award-winning 2009 film “Crazy Heart” with his latest project offering a portrait of iconic New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen.
Based on the biography by Warren Zanes, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” attempts to understand the man behind the music through a closer examination of a pivotal moment in Springsteen's rise to fame, focusing on the artist retreating to his bedroom to craft songs that would ultimately appear on two distinctly diverse albums: the classic "Born in the USA" and the introspective, acoustic "Nebraska."
An examination of this subject matter alone, given the right script, could provide fertile ground for a richly cinematic experience. There are certainly moments within “Deliver Me from Nowhere” that evoke the ethereal, lived-in quality Cooper strives for in his cinema –moments reminiscent of Springsteen’s own experiences watching “The Night of the Hunter” and Terrence Malick’s “Badlands” for inspiration in songwriting.
Yet the ethereal qualities of this segment of the film, along with a magnetically captivating lead performance by Jeremy Allen White, are often short-changed by decisions to obscure Springsteen's internal struggles with a poorly constructed love story, which is an amalgamation of several romances he had during the 1980s, and by overly indulgent discussions of recording devices and vinyl pressings.
It feels as if the film tries too hard to cover all aspects of Springsteen without getting any one particularly right. However, small, segmented pieces featuring White performing “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA” capture the fiery, dynamic energy of a Springsteen concert, bringing life and energy to what is otherwise a largely stoic, somber film.
What’s ultimately crushing about “Deliver Me from Nowhere” is how the meandering screenplay, which forces in flashbacks to Springsteen’s childhood shot entirely in black and white, keeps everyone in his life at such a distance that audiences unfamiliar with his story won’t understand the relationships that are clearly meant to be significant within the drama. This makes the character work less compelling and relatable; viewers don’t understand Springsteen’s struggles without proper context.
Furthermore, there isn’t enough time devoted to any of the relationships in the film for audiences to gain proper context.
This isn’t to say that White isn’t an ideal casting choice to play the rocker. In a better film, he would be perfectly primed to embody Springsteen, the consummate showman and thoughtfully introspective artist. Unfortunately, “Deliver Me from Nowhere” fails to let him do either for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
Jeremy Strong, fresh off an Oscar nom for “The Apprentice,” portrays Springsteen’s blindly supportive manager and friend Jon Landau well, but Cooper sidelines Strong with office scenes away from Springsteen, relying on audiences’ blind acceptance of their deep kinship over musical artistry.
Equally baffling is the decision to amalgamate several of Springsteen’s romantic partners into one fictional character, Faye, capably played by Odessa Young, whose fleeting time with Springsteen often feels like it’s part of an entirely separate movie, shifting audiences away from the deeply flawed character work White explores about Springsteen’s family life and depression.
What could have been a strong contender come awards season will probably only find White’s turn celebrated with nominations, though the film doesn’t allow him to explore the musicality of Springsteen to the same degree as Timothee Chalamet did with Bob Dylan in last year’s “A Complete Unknown.”
Viewers are left with a largely cold, self-reflective think piece of a movie that indulges in visualizing Springsteen’s songwriting process through random, pseudo-fever dream sequences that evoke a mood that isn’t terribly welcoming to casual audiences in theaters.
While “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” isn’t worth a trip to the big screen, cinephiles should make an effort for an at-home viewing for White’s performance and the nostalgia of classic 80s tunes when the film inevitably lands on a streaming service early next year.
Leave a Reply