Autumn, 1981. Bruce Springsteen is 31, fresh off an exhausting tour for his The River album, and everyone at Columbia Records is begging him to get back in the studio and crank out more hits. But Bruce? He’s not feeling it. Burned out and restless, he heads home to New Jersey, craving the safety and comfort of old friends, familiar diners, and that unmistakable Jersey Shore air.
Holed up in a quiet little house in Colts Neck, New Jersey, just outside his hometown of Freehold, Springsteen hits a creative and emotional crossroads. Battling old family wounds and a heavy dose of depression, he starts channeling that darkness into something raw and honest. Inspired by everything from Flannery O’Connor’s Southern Gothic stories to the haunting film Badlands and even a few chilling true crime tales, Bruce records ten tracks on a simple Teac 4-track recorder. Some would argue ten of the best songs ever.
The result? Nebraska. One of the most stripped-down, haunting, and powerful albums of his entire career.
If you were misled by the trailers and are expecting Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to be a raucous, foot-stomping rock movie full of sweat, guitars, and stadium lights – well, hold your horses, boss. This isn’t that kind of party. Well, he does get pretty sweaty on stage. Instead, writer-director Scott Cooper, who absolutely nailed it with 2009’s Crazy Heart, trades in the Born to Run energy for something much quieter, sadder, and, depending on your mood, maybe a little too sleepy for its own good.
Cooper zeroes in on Springsteen (Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear” who acts the part, but hardly looks it) as he crafts Nebraska, the sparse, haunting album that nearly unraveled his sanity. Based on Warren Zanes’ book, the story is about an artist who can’t escape himself – haunted by family trauma, creative exhaustion, and the heavy shadow of his own fame. It’s an intimate premise for sure, but the execution wobbles between soulful introspection and straight-up navel-gazing.
Cooper opens strong, with a slick montage of Bruce and the E Street Band tearing through Born to Run. It’s everything a Springsteen fan would want: electric, loud, and pure rock and roll. Then the film slams on the brakes! What follows is a long, slow descent into Bruce’s brooding inner world—shot in moody grays and hushed tones that feel more True Detective than Thunder Road.
White gives it his all, channeling Bruce’s gravelly voice and physical stillness with uncanny precision. He’s not doing an impression so much as capturing a vibe. A kind of beaten intensity that’s both magnetic and frustratingly opaque. The problem is that the film gives him little to do besides stare into the middle distance, scribble lyrics, and look tormented. Sure, sure, his depression during this time was the driving force behind the Nebraska album, and that’s the point of the film. We get it. But on film, quite frankly, it’s a bit of a slog.
Jeremy Strong ("Succession") fares better as Jon Landau, Springsteen’s loyal manager and occasional therapist. Strong nails Landau’s calm demeanor, especially in the scenes where he goes to bat for Bruce’s decision to release Nebraska as-is: no gloss, no tour, no compromises. Those scenes have real pulse, a spark of artistic rebellion that the rest of the movie could’ve used more of.
Unfortunately, the family drama part of the film, centered on Bruce’s fraught relationship with his alcoholic father (Stephen Graham) and patient mother (Gaby Hoffman), never quite clicks. The emotional beats are there and are necessary, but Cooper hammers them so early, and so often they become repetitive, almost like sketches of deeper scenes that never got finished.
There’s no denying the film’s sincerity. It clearly loves its subject. But sincerity alone doesn’t make for compelling cinema. Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere is beautifully shot and admirably acted, but it’s also uneven, moody, and too often stuck in second gear. For hardcore Springsteen devotees, it might feel like a haunting echo of Nebraska. For everyone else, it’s more like a long drive with the radio turned way down.
MPAA Rating: PG-13.
Runtime: 120 mins
Director: Scott Cooper
Writer: Scott Cooper
Cast: Jeremy Allen White; Jeremy Strong; Paul Walter Hauser
Genre: Music | Biography
Tagline:
Memorable Movie Quote: "Never owned a new car before."
Distributor: 20th Century
Official Site:
Release Date: October 24, 2025
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: Bruce Springsteen's journey crafting his 1982 album Nebraska, which emerged as he recorded Born in the USA with the E Street Band. Based on Warren Zanes' book.
