"This Boss-olatrous film only partly escapes music-movie cliches. This happens when Bruce Springsteen finally leaves his New Jersey heartland, and sees a shrink in shallow LA where he has bought a house. Otherwise, it's all chunks of expositional dialogue (I'm just trying to find something real in the noise! It's like he's channelling something deeply personal!), black-and-white flashbacks to his tough upbringing, scenes in the recording studio with producers and execs looking on wonderstruck behind the glass while the magic happens."
"And there's some very strange stuff about Bruce's romantic life. Jeremy Allen White does an intelligent, committed job as Springsteen; Jeremy Strong gives of his considerable best with the thanklessly dull role of Bruce's manager and friend Jon Landau, and Stephen Graham is Springsteen's abusive but troubled dad Douglas with whom Springsteen finally comes to terms. In fact White and Graham have the film's best scene, a scene so weird that it must surely be true."
"Springsteen's old dad, waiting humbly and penitently in the Boss's dressing room after the show, asks Bruce in a voice filled with pathos to sit on his knee and Springsteen has to point out gently that he is a grown man and has in fact never done this before in his life, not even as a kid. The meat of the film's drama is a key moment of emotional and artistic crisis in Springsteen's life:"
The narrative follows Bruce Springsteen as he leaves New Jersey for Los Angeles, sees a therapist, and faces memories of a difficult upbringing portrayed in black-and-white flashbacks. The film alternates between studio sequences observed by producers and executives and awkward, intimate scenes about Springsteen's romantic life. Jeremy Allen White delivers a committed performance as Springsteen, Jeremy Strong plays manager Jon Landau, and Stephen Graham portrays Springsteen's abusive but troubled father Douglas. A striking dressing-room confrontation with the father provides a raw emotional high point. The central conflict centers on the creation of the lo-fi 1982 album Nebraska.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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