Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Victoria's Statewide Mornings program on October 30, 2025.

(M) ★★★

Director: Scott Cooper.

Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young, Paul Walter Hauser, Stephen Graham, Gaby Hoffmann, David Krumholtz.

"I will now perform Down With The Sickness, in the key of F."

It's weird to be bored by a film that you suspect you should really love.

But that's the feeling I had for large parts of Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, a film about the making of the Springsteen album I know best, and the only one I've ever purchased - his dark 1982 opus Nebraska, an album that saw him take a deliberate step back from the spotlight and that was ultimately recorded at home on a four-track.

Given the subject matter we see in the film, I will absolutely hunt down a copy of the book it's based on, and would gladly watch the same stuff presented as a documentary. But as a film, Deliver Me From Nowhere drags and wanders through nearly two hours of Springsteen battling with his inner demons in the quest for pure creativity in a way that is surpisingly unengaging.

This exploration of The Boss fighting his Black Dog is sporadically interesting but far from enthralling on the whole, partly because it's often hard to differentiate his depression from him being a diva. 

And maybe that's the point. Certainly, by film's end my perspective on the story and the character of Springsteen had changed, and I felt a strong desire to watch the film again through that lens, now better understanding what Springsteen was actually grappling with.

So maybe I'm just an idiot that didn't get it. Or maybe the film doesn't deliver it well enough, leaving me bored, despite being fascinated by the making of this album. 

Either way, White's performance as Springsteen is excellent. He doesn't necessarily look like the New Jersey icon (and he's obviously not playing guitar all the time in the film), but he captures the intensity and power required for the role. 

Strong is also good as Springsteen's trusted manager Jon Landau, who is a fascinating character on his own. Landau serves as something of an audience surrogate - his confusion mirrors the audience's own, as we try to grapple with what the hell is going on with Springsteen. This does mean Strong's given some painfully clunky lines at times, especially in some hamfisted scenes where Landau talks at his wife about Springsteen. This need to have Landau explain things seems proof that the material isn't selling itself well enough.

The film is at its best when Springsteen is grappling with his past, as manifested by his parents (played by Graham and Hoffmann). The complexities of this relationship prove more engaging than Springsteen's creative wranglings, or an unfulfilling subplot about his relationship with a young single mum (played by Young).

Deliver Me From Nowhere is solid proof of the notion some subject matter is better suited to certain media. In book or doco form, this material would likely sing. But as a biopic it's an underwhelming cry in the dark that only hits the right notes on occasion.