3 Minnesota fans weigh in on new movie ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’

Bruce Springsteen has gone from a cool rockin’ daddy in the U.S.A. to the subject of a major dramatic movie.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” is not a biopic but rather a difficult chapter in the rich biography of one of rock’s greatest performers and vivid storytellers. It depicts the making of his least commercial album, 1982’s dark, often bleak “Nebraska,” the equivalent of a black-and-white movie in Springsteen’s otherwise Technicolor career.

It stars Jeremy Allen White, known for TV’s “The Bear” and “Shameless,” doing his own singing as both a rocker and a balladeer. There has been Oscar buzz for White at recent film festivals.

Based on Warren Zanes’ 2023 book, “Deliver Me from Nowhere,” the movie was written and directed by Scott Cooper, who struck Oscar gold with Jeff Bridges starring as a washed up-country singer in 2009’s “Crazy Heart.”

Although Springsteen was not officially listed in the credits, he authorized the project and attended some of the filming as did his manager/producer Jon Landau. They reportedly did not have any creative control.

Does “Deliver Me from Nowhere” deliver?

We took three Springsteen fans to the movie to find out: Ethan Lambert, an Eden Prairie freelancer writer who has seen two Springsteen concerts; Josh Jacobson, a Minneapolis lawyer who has seen more than 100 Springsteen shows, and Heidi Vader, a Minneapolis educator who was an extra in Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video in 1984.

Ethan: I was really impressed. I thought Jeremy Allen White was really, really good, especially the performances when he was recording “Nebraska” and doing “Born to Run” in concert. He embodied Springsteen’s energy. I think the film captured the visceral power of his music really well, the dynamic range of “Nebraska” to “Born in the USA.” It documented what made that creative era special for him.

Heidi: I liked Jeremy Allen White, too. It took me a little while, because I knew him so well, to believe he was Springsteen. I thought he did great singing. I wished he could have played guitar better. It was a little slow for me. I didn’t buy “Nebraska;” that was one [Springsteen] album I skipped. But [the movie] was moving. When he cried at the end, that was believable. It made me feel. It was so serious. There were three chuckles in the whole film.

Josh: I thought it was good but not great. I’d never seen Jeremy Allen White in anything before and I thought he was good. I thought Jeremy Strong as Jon Landau was really good. The singing was better than I expected. If you said: Was this Bruce or Jeremy? I would know the difference, but it was pretty darn close. I’ll save my complaints for later because I have a lot of them.

Q: What are your complaints?

Josh: They never explain who his best friend Matty Delia is; he is really not in the movie and then he shows up in key scenes to save Bruce’s life. They compressed a bunch of stuff near the ending radically. First of all, they have him back onstage 10 months later [after his breakdown], which is wrong. “Nebraska” was released in September 1982; he wasn’t back onstage with the band at the St. Paul Civic Center until June ‘84. The timing is wrong there.

Ethan: They’ve got to condense it somehow.

Q: How do you think this compares to the Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown” that also depicted just a short period in his long career?

Ethan: I liked this movie quite a bit more. I don’t think you can encapsulate why Springsteen is so great with just “Nebraska,” but it felt more fulfilling than the Dylan movie. You guys said Springsteen [the movie] was slow, but to me it went by fast.

Josh: I’m not a Dylanologist but there were obvious errors there. They compressed the story there. It’s easier to quibble about Bruce because we know enough to quibble. The Bruce movie does sort of run out of energy at the end.

Q: How do you think this will play with non-Springsteen fans?

Ethan: Biopics are an interesting way for older music to be introduced to a new generation. Having said that I don’t see that with this because it’s more of a quiet movie. I don’t think it’ll have that broad of reach to it.

Heidi: You’re talking about one of his least popular records. It’s depressing, it’s sad. I don’t think people who go will tell their friends to go.

Q: How do you think this will play with Springsteen fans?

Josh: I have a number of friends who’ve seen it already. Some of them liked it, some of them didn’t. A friend said: “This isn’t a movie about Bruce Springsteen; it’s about a guy who’s really depressed who happens to be Bruce Springsteen.”

Heidi: We’re forgetting that Jeremy Allen White is huge right now. “The Bear” got huge. People will go just because of him, and they don’t know who Springsteen is.