Deliver Me From Nowhere finally arrives in cinemas this weekend, the Scott Cooper-directed music biopic that recounts an early, dramatic chapter of Bruce Springsteen’s life during the recording of his 1982 Nebraska album. It’s a no-brainer for fans of “The Boss,” but overall, it’s inspired a mixed critical response that adds up to a more divisive response than expected.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last month, and the reception was striking and intense. Deadline reflected the broad critical buzz when it described the film as the glorious antithesis to your standard clichéd music biopic, labeling it as “the real deal, an intelligent, deliberately paced journey into the soul of an artist.”
Some of this festival buzz is definitely wearing off, though, with the rapturous initial enthusiasm giving way to a general feeling that this highly-anticipated biopic did not live up to the hype. Strong performances from Jeremy Allen White aside, there have been many bones to pick, and even a few shots fired by the media.
Jeremy Alan White Delivers, Even When The Film Is Failing To Do So
Before we get into audience beef with the flick, there is one clear win critics broadly seem to agree on. Jeremy Allen White is loved worldwide for the simmering pathos of Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto that he portrays on the hit restaurant drama. The Bearand the critical consensus seems to be that White gives us the portrayal of Springsteen that we were actually looking for.
The key area of praise is that White captures the restlessness of Springsteen without impersonationhis performance altogether more authentic than your typical music biopic cosplay. Rolling Stone calls White’s portrayal “moody and mercurial,” while the LA Times says he grounds the introspective nature of the project and “offers a character study as biopic.”
White gives what The Guardian describes as a “committed performance” that nails the defines the working-class toughness of Springsteen’s celebrated persona, though more importantly, also shines a less-seen torch on Springsteen’s raw vulnerabilities and personal unravelings, providing an anchor to the introspective, emotionally bruising themes that the film explores.
There’s no obvious Springsteen impersonation herecritics say. No exaggerated growl or preening swagger. Instead, White channels something more introspective as he internalizes the exhaustion of the infamous Nebraska recording sessions. He mumbles into tape recorders, chain-smokes through the rewrites, and looks like a man who can’t tell if these songs are saving or killing him.
Deliver Me From Mild Disappointment
Sadly, though, this optimism isn’t matched across the board with Deliver Me From Nowhere. The film is holding onto its fresh status Rotten Tomatoesalthough it has a middling critical score of 61% plus a Metacritic average of 60/100 (with reviews generally leaning in a favorable to mixed-negative direction, it should be pointed out).
The contention isn’t necessarily over director Cooper’s decision to focus entirely on the tortured Nebraska sessions (a gutsy and inspired idea, on paper). Instead, it’s the execution that’s caused a few. The lack of any “Born to Run” victory pencil or E Street Band camaraderie aside, critics claim Cooper bites off a lot with his narrative choices, perhaps a little more than he could chew.
The Guardian unflatteringly describes it as an “awkward biopic, stranded between rock mythology and pop-psych melodrama.” Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle describes it as “endless mope, occasionally interrupted by artistic breakthroughs.” The New York Times argues its admirable ambitions are undermined by “some unfortunate self-conscious artistic flourishes.”
Even harsher was Looperarguing that the film failed to rise above the biopic cliches despite everything. “Every scene has amateurish dialogue riddled with groan-worthy clichés that do nothing to further the development of any of its characters.” UPI claims its focused scope actually renders its flaws more evident, “exacerbates all the cliches from other music biopics that attempt to cover their subjects’ entire lives.”
So What About The Springsteen Stans?
It’s the opinions of Springsteen stans that might prove to matter the most, but there’s some tension here too. Insider movie blog World of Reel World of Reel notes the cooling off from critics, while also expressing their own misgivings, even though the writer describes the book by Warren Zanes that inspired the film as an “incredible book that tries to dig deep into the mind of Springsteen.”
“I’ll admit it, huge Springsteen fan here. I own the entire discography, hundreds of bootleg recordings, lost count of the number of times I’ve seen him live, but this film — it’s just okay. Semi-wasted potential.”
Meanwhile, veteran music industry insider Bob Lefsetz chose not to mince his words: “We had to endure eighteen months of hype for this?” he steamed in his razor-sharp stylearguing the post-festival hype was undeserved. “But even worse is the hype. We had to endure all the stories; they went on ad infinitum, you’d think it was Elvis come back from the dead.”
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