SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE
(12A) 112mins
★★☆☆☆
MUSIC biopics seem to be the new superhero films.
From last year’s Bob Dylan special A Complete Unknown, to the upcoming four-film series about The Beatles by Sam Mendes, they fill cinema seats.
This Springsteen drama, authorised by Bruce himself, sees Jeremy Allen White as The Boss in 1981 when he returns home to New Jersey after touring his first No1 album.
With pressure from record execs, Bruce turns his back on the popular and instead goes for a hard-left artistic turn, writing folksy album Nebraska.
White does a reasonable impression of the tortured genius but with far too many distant, brooding stares.
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There’s also flashbacks with Stephen Graham as Bruce’s alcoholic dad, which seems unnecessary.
Unlike many films of the genre, the music is not overused.
But this often clunky, overwritten production is a waste of a potentially fascinating subject, which we never really get to know.
One for the superfans.
