Parents' Guide to Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

An exceedingly conventional, mainstream movie about a dark, personal work of art, this drama may miss the point, but its sentiments are admirable, and the cast is uniformly great. Directed by Scott Cooper, who broke through with a similarly vanilla music movie, Crazy Heart, in 2009, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere begins with black-and-white flashbacks to Bruce's childhood, including his hard-drinking, somewhat abusive father (Stephen Graham). Bruce's dad is the inspiration for the album, having taken young Bruce to see The Night of the Hunter and driven him to see a literal "mansion on a hill." The movie does a fine job of capturing a sense of oppressive silence as Bruce leaves behind the cheering crowds and is left alone with his thoughts. (A car salesman tells him, "I do know who you are." Bruce replies, "that makes one of us.")

But the feel of music being created is electrifying, especially a pounding, in-studio performance of "Born in the U.S.A." From there, the movie can't find much to elevate either its drama or its romantic subplot, relying on montages and biopic clichés that might be found intact in a spoof like Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story. When the Nebraska album comes together—on a regular cassette tape without even a box to put it in—it becomes apparent what a precious object it is ... and how difficult it will be to get it out into the world. (Jeremy Strong, playing Bruce's steadfast manager Jon Landau, has some powerful moments as he tries to bridge the gap between artist and corporation.) While most rock biopics are about finding all the right elements for a hit single, the idea of Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, celebrating something difficult, austere, and full of painful searching, may be special after all.