What Critics Are Saying About the Springsteen Biopic

The much-anticipated Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me From Nowhere is out, and reviews are decent if unspectacular: It's got a 61% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though the audience score is a stronger 85%. The movie explores the making of Springsteen's sparse 1982 album Nebraska. A sample of what critics are saying:

• Star Jeremy Allen White "doesn't look like Springsteen and smartly, he and (director Scott Cooper) don't try to fake a resemblance," writes Manohla Dargis at the New York Times. The Springsteen in this movie spends a lot of time alone. "That means White needs to express the seemingly inexpressible, even as the character is finding the songs that will voice what he can't, which the actor does with delicacy."

• The movie "doesn't aim to be the definitive tale of Bruce Springsteen's life, but it does make smart choices in trying to subtly showcase the reasons why his legacy extends beyond some great rock songs," writes Liz Shannon Miller at Consequence. "It's a committed portrait of an artist, with White's devotion to capturing Bruce's soul almost overcoming the lack of physical resemblance… And you do eventually get used to that. For he's not trying to be the definitive Bruce Springsteen, either—just a ghost of a man who was lost, and found what he was looking for in his music."

• "The actor's chef-y mix of sensitivity and masculinity that works so well on The Bear is exactly right for Bruce—both as a performer and behind closed doors. Few could nail him as well," writes Johnny Oleksinski at the New York Post. "White's turn is sad, confused, restless and real. And he doesn't go overboard schmacting his way through a hokey impersonation."
• "At the movie's center is a solid Jeremy Allen White, whose Springsteen feels authentic both on and off a stage, while around the edges are rich details about how his willfully non-commercial album ever made it to shelves," writes Rafer Guzman at Newsday. But ultimately, Guzman isn't a fan: The dual performances of White and Jeremy Strong as the singer's manager turns the movie "into a double dose of mopey masculinity."