Bruce Springsteen has become an American musical icon, worshiped around the world and tirelessly performing amazing concerts to sold out crowds, even into his 70s. The new film SPRINGSTEEN: DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE tells the story of Springsteen’s efforts right before the release of his “Born In The U.S.A.” album, and how he struggled to release his “Nebraska” album, an odd but inspired release that many thought would never work for mainstream music fans. For those unfamiliar, Nebraska was a release that was literally taken for a rough recording of Bruce’s original (and very personal) songs, recorded with him solo inside his house, and sounding nothing like a professional recording. The record company wanted Top 10 radio hits, but Nebraska wasn’t that at all, and they found themselves forced to release it in order to get the next album, which would be the very popular Born In The U.S.A. – but the real story of the film is more about Bruce’s emotional struggles, and him battling the demons of his past.

Already a star in the eyes of many, Bruce Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White) is performing on stage to enthusiastic crowds, and his manager Jon Landau (Jeremy Strong) is trying to push him to produce more hits. But Bruce is tortured by his childhood memories of an alcoholic father, and it’s stifling his creativity. He meets a single mother named Faye (Odessa Young), the sister of his childhood friend, and they spark up a relationship that at first seems to be moving fast. Bruce soon finds himself recording personal songs on tape, away from his band with the help of his engineer Mike Batlan (Paul Walter Hauser). As he begins to ramp up his next big album, which would be Born In The U.S.A., he decides his personal songs need to be released, but when the band attempts to re-record them, it just doesn’t sound right to him, and Bruce worries that his personal work may never be heard the correct way. This creates a struggle that gets in the way of his love life, and could potentially destroy his career.

One of the key points of the movie that is defined at the end is how Bruce Springsteen was suffering from depression, but I didn’t feel like the movie made that very clear – what comes across is that he’s frustrated and can’t seem to be satisfied with how his Nebraska album release is being handled, and can’t seem to commit to his romance with Faye, but outside of creative frustration I didn’t really grasp that we were meant to see a man who was battling depression. I suppose retroactively you could see it when analyzing the events of the film and how things played out, but something as simple as one of the key characters stating Bruce was, in fact, battling depression would have gone a long way to making the proceedings more cohesive. It’s hard to explain, but for a majority of the film it’s not really clear what’s being said with the narrative. Thankfully the performances are so good that they elevate the movie past the sum of its parts.

Jeremy Allen White is excellent in the lead here, really capturing the right mix of Springsteen’s amazing performative ability, and intense personal conflict. This is the portrayal of a man who many find to be incredible, but few understand the personal demons he’s battling, and how traumatic his own past was and the way it affects his creative side. White has already proven himself to be an incredible actor on THE BEAR, but this should propel him to leading man status for the big screen without a doubt. Jeremy Strong plays a strong co-lead as Springsteen’s manager and friend, Jon Landau, a man who wants the best for Bruce, but can’t always seem to get through to him in the way he’s wanting to. Paul Walter Hauser is a welcome addition as Mike Batlan, Bruce’s technical supervisor, who does his best to meet the man’s sometimes unusual requests. And Odessa Young is also quite good as Faye, Bruce’s well-meaning love interest, but sadly her character and storyline almost feel unnecessary in the long run, and at times slows down the main focus of the film. Stephen Graham is a standout playing Bruce’s troubled father, both in flashback scenes and moments later as an older man, convincingly complimented by old age makeup.

The entire cast is doing great work, and the performances are superb, but the script feels more like a collection of moments than a defined story. There are also some missed opportunities to give the film a bit more punch, particularly in the final scene, which begins with Bruce walking out from a big performance to meet with his family – there was an easy chance there to show one last big musical number to give the ending a big punch to go out on, and instead we’re denied that for a somber and somewhat quiet ending. This movie needed a bigger finale, and we just don’t get it. For a comparison, films like BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, which in fairness took a lot of artistic license with the timeline of Queen’s musical legacy, was still smart enough to end with a really big performance number that wowed the audience. This movie could have done the same, but for some reason decided not to. It’s a solid effort and masterfully directed by Scott Cooper, but it falls short of what it could have been.

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