1/2

USA 2025
Opening October 23, 2025

Directed by: Scott Cooper
Writing credits: Scott Cooper, Warren Zanes
Principal actors: Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Odessa Young, Gaby Hoffmann, Stephen Graham

Bruce Springsteen had been on the Jersey scene for more than ten years before charting big with Hungry Heart, the now-classic single off his fifth studio album, The River. His label was over the moon and itching for the follow-up that would surely, surely launch him into highly-lucrative super-stardom. But Bruce wasn’t feeling it. More than that, he was crumbling, ceding to the depression that dogged him as it had his father. Bruce retired to a rented house in rural New Jersey and wrote an album’s worth of a slow, dark acoustic songs. He insisted that his label release them before he would record anything else. Called Nebraska, the album charted anyway, despite Bruce’s insistence that there be no singles released, no tour, no promotion, not even his picture on the cover.         

This biopic covers the years 1981-1982, the time between his River tour and the writing, recording, and release of Nebraska. There are also flashbacks, in gritty black-and-white, of his Jersey childhood, his warm but overwrought mother, his angry, suffering father. While it may be an over-simplification to say that one caused the other, the film draws some pretty straight lines between childhood trauma and what led to Nebraska. His father’s inability to give and receive love, for example, plays out in Bruce’s breaking the heart of a nice girl he’d really cared for. It seems, for a time, as if he’s throwing it all away, a potentially huge career, a loving family. But we know bigger and better is just around the corner.

This movie may disappoint those who love the dynamic Boss of Born in the USA, which came next, or those who enjoy a traditional rags-to-riches story. What this film does do is capture beautifully the mood and pace of Nebraska. Springsteen has always come across as genuine and heartfelt, particularly when he tells stories, and that quality is what’s highlighted here. In recounting the creation of this particular album, the movie tells Bruce’s coming-of-age story, the journey from Jersey rocker kid to legend. 

Jeremy Allen White doesn’t really look like Bruce Springsteen (except, impressively, when he rocks out on stage) but he does have The Boss’s charisma, which is much harder to come by. The psychological break and then break-through are perhaps a bit of a trope (the final scene with his father is both the redemption we hope for and then roll our eyes at for being a cliché). Personally, I could have used more music! If you aren’t familiar with Nebraska, I’d suggest giving it a listen before seeing the movie, because the film only gives you snippets.

I left the theater thinking this film was a bit too long and slow, and then found, over the next days, that it was growing on me. It stayed with me, which is rare. Much like Nebraska. (Mason Jane M.)