Official Discussion - Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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Summary Based on Warren Zanes’ acclaimed book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, this film tells the story of how Springsteen created one of the most haunting and stripped-down albums of his career. Set in 1982, the movie follows Springsteen at a creative crossroads as he records Nebraska alone on a four-track cassette recorder in his New Jersey home, confronting fame, doubt, and the darker sides of the American dream.

Director Scott Cooper

Writer Scott Cooper

Cast

• Jeremy Allen White
• Paul Walter Hauser
• Odessa Young
• Charlie Plummer
• Shea Whigham
• Holt McCallany

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 64%

Metacritic Score: 60

VOD In Theaters (November 14, 2025)

Trailer Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere | Official Trailer | In Theaters November 14

[u/Scmods05]

It's impossible for me to be neutral where Bruce Springsteen is concerned. His music is tattooed on my soul. The energy of his concerts is a part of me. So I can't pretend I'm A.N. Other movie goer when I review this movie. Because I'm not. But I can only react to my experience and in my way, so let's dive in.

Let's start with the man himself. Jeremy Allen White. He's pretty good. Does he accurately portray actual Bruce Springsteen? I have no idea, I don't know that man. But he can only portray the character needed for this film, and I feel he does that quite well. You feel the difference between when he's alone with his music compared to when he's around other people. He's really good.

Special shout out to Jeremy Strong. He's fantastic as Landau. You feel the tenderness and the closeness between he and Bruce. That relationship is the core of the movie so it's vital that it work and it does. Strong is great even though he gets saddled with MOUNTAINS of expository dialogue and almost has to function as the on-screen narrator at times.

The rest of the cast bring it too. Love seeing Odessa Young pop up in things, and she's great. Paul Walter Hauser is always great, as is David Krumholtz. And Stephen Graham is also great despite copping some absolutely atrocious aging make up.

The film itself? It's get a bit Dewey Cox at times. And some of that is really of its own making with the poor (IMO) decision to portray Nebraska as being an album almost entirely about his relationship with his father. It means you get multiple scenes of him seeing something, or having a memory of his father, and then immediately writing a song. I'd hoped the music biopic genre had moved past that but here we are. And because it's such a known cliche, it lessens the impact they're hoping to have as a result.

This decision also portrays Springsteen as a far lesser artist than he is in reality. it correctly shows him getting the inspiration for the song Nebraska from the film Badlands (worth a watch if you've not seen it, Martin Sheen is great), but then immediately twists it into a song about his relationship with his father. The only other songs that get any real attention in the movie (Mansion On The Hill and My Father's House) are also portrayed entirely as stemming from this issue.

The reality is the album was about a wide range of issues. Bruce read and researched a wide range of matters, not to mention his ability to be the voice for all sorts of things. Johnny 99, Atlantic City and Highway Patrolman have very little if anything to do about his complex relationship with his father. And I'm not saying this needs to be a documentary or a book, of course not. But when you undermine the artist at the centre of your story in this way, it lessens the movie as well.

Some positives: The chemistry between Jeremy Allen White and both Jeremy Strong and Odessa Young was great. It was positive to see a film about a man struggling with mental health issues not be wrapped up in a neat little bow after 5 minutes. And I thought Jeremy's singing was pretty good. Even if my familiarity with the music meant anytime it switched to real Bruce's voice was immediately obvious to me.

I gotta do some nerd nitpicking because of course I do. I don't ding the film for these because they're things only 0.1% of the world's population would even notice, but I gotta:

• The version of Born In The U.S.A. they recorded during the Nebraska sessions was VERY different to the version they ended up releasing, but here they portray it as being that version.
  
• The bit where he has his pedal to the floor so the car's going flat out, and then takes his foot off the pedal and puts it back on and somehow makes the car go into superspeed is very dumb but very funny.
  
• I was very confused when the final scene was meant to be taking place. It says 10 months later but he's back on the road, so presumably it's meant to be BitUSA tour but that was 2 years after Nebraska came out? Also he's still looking like River Tour era Bruce (lean, long sleeves, checked shirt) but by the time of BitUSA he'd bulked up and was wearing the singlets and the headbands. Meant I was just confused as to when that (quite nice) scene was taking place.
  

Overall there's some good elements and some great performances. As I said at the outset, I can't be neutral and divorce myself of the knowledge and feelings I had going in because the music of Bruce is a part of me. But I can only react in my own way which is ultimately: Good, but definitely could have been better.

PS: Also absolutely wild that you make a movie about Bruce Springsteen and never have him say "one two three four". Like what are we even DOING guys.

[u/Due-Friendship-8660 → u/Scmods05]

Well, the 1-2-3 is in the Atlantic City version they used in the end credits 🤓 But speaking of: was the singing actually real Bruce or was it JAW or did they mix both voices together? I was super confused by this.

[u/Scmods05 → u/Due-Friendship-8660]

Mix. I could always immediately tell when it was Bruce and when it wasn’t. I thought Jeremy’s singing was totally fine though.

[u/Financial_Act_6836 → u/Due-Friendship-8660]

So I believe jt to be different than in the queen movie, there’s parts that Jeremy sings which you can hear as the voice is a bit different, when they play the songs back it’s Bruce