Film Review: Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Welcome back to the blog readers. As you know, we have been graced in the last decade with some pretty fire musical biopics (or films that are like musical biopics). Some of the ones that come to mind include Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Rocketman (2019), and Elvis (2022) (one of my favorite films of 2022). Hearing that the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, would be getting the biopic treatment, I got excited because he is one of the most legendary men in the business. Would I enjoy this one as much as the others I just listed? Stick around to find out.

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere was written and directed by Scott Cooper, based on the book Deliver Me from Nowhere by Warren Zanes and Springsteen's autobiography Born to Run. The film stars Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Odessa Young, and Gaby Hoffmann. The film chronicles Bruce Springsteen's professional and personal struggles leading up to the recording and release of his 1982 album Nebraska.

Scott Cooper has been someone that I have been familiar with, although I never did get around to seeing that Out of the Furnace (2013) film that interested me so much when I saw the trailer. His film Black Mass (2015) really surprised me, so I was curious as to how he would handle the Boss. And I think not only did he handle this rock legend with heart, he honored the passion and emotion that makes Bruce Bruce. Jeremy Allen White turns in a career performance, as does Stephen Graham, and the music and themes of the film are all points that should be highlighted here.

I want to start by talking about the performance of "Shameless (2011-21) boi." Jeremy Allen White, who has starred in such projects as the aforementioned Shameless, The Bear (2022-), and The Iron Claw (2023), has been proving he is more than his character from the raunchy drama show from HBO. He has been putting in the work to solidify him as one of the better actors under 40 in the business. Now he has taken on his biggest role to date, and that is encapsulating one of the greatest rockers to ever do it in Bruce Springsteen, a role he absolutely perfected. I believe Allen White became Springsteen in one of the most transformative performances I have seen all year. He took on Springsteen's pain, his joy, his complexities, and his thoughts (and especially his mannerisms and that voice). I do not believe it will happen, but I can be hopeful that he will get an Oscar nomination for this performance.

I also want to talk about the performance of Stephen Graham. Graham is someone who has been in the business for a while, but has never garnered the attention that he desired. He has been in such projects like Band of Brothers (2001), Rocketman and The Irishman (both 2019), and he was the award-winning creator of Adolescence (2025). But seeing him become the father of the legendary Boss, Douglas Springsteen, was a turn I did not see coming from him, especially because he plays this part with so much conviction and anguish. I can see a complex person on the screen, plagued by his own alcoholism and demons, and he wound up taking those demons out on his wife and son. But this film does a stellar job in giving Douglas a redemption that he may or may not have gotten in real life (I do not know the story).

I next want to talk about the themes that this film presents, and how they can speak to almost anyone regardless of their level of fame. Something my father told me as we were walking out of the theater was that he had no idea Springsteen was battling those demons that he was, especially with his fame and his family. You could be forgiven if you too did not know this going into the film, but the film treats the theme of mental health so well that you could think it was just added into the film for dramatic effect. The film's themes of mental health and the drawbacks of fame are handled so well, as I just mentioned, that it resonates to the viewer to the point that even I was getting emotional watching Springsteen having a breakdown at his therapist's office.

And finally, I want to talk about the music, which is thankfully not the entire focus of the film like in A Complete Unknown (2024). Not a knock on that film at all, just one of the very few negatives I had with the film. In this film, however, the characters and their emotional arcs are the absolute center and focus, and I love that Scott Cooper was able to bring us this look in a film where the music takes a back seat. Don't get me wrong, hearing Jeremy Allen White do his best Bruce was amazing and all, but I am glad that the music was put on the backburner like it was.

In conclusion, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere is a stern and honest look at one of rock's greatest pioneers at the lowest point of his life and career. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.