Reviewed By: Popcornicus
The very first physical music I ever owned was Bruce Springsteen’s Born In the U.S.A which was gifted to me when I was maybe eight or nine years old. This was some of my early introduction to rock music and I loved that cassette tape, especially the hit songs off of it. As I grew up I kind of forgot about Springsteen and I didn’t follow his career much, but that record always held a special place for me. When I saw this movie come out it brought that nostalgia back which made me want to see it.
Now, this film is about the making of the record that came out prior to Born In the U.S.A., though many of those songs were written in this same time period and are also featured in the film. The movie stars Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen coming home to New Jersey after a successful tour. His manager rents a house for him where he stays to relax, lie low, and take some time to write his next album. The record label has high expectations for what’s to come as he is steadily becoming a rising star.
As he settles into his new house he begins to reminisce about his childhood and the strained relationship he had with his father. He buys a Camaro and plays some shows at the Stone Pony with some local bands where he meets Faye, the younger sister of one of his old classmates. He starts a relationship with her and her daughter but with everything else going on in his life he can’t bring himself to commit to anything other than his music. He begins to write new songs by himself, alone in his house, inspired by books, a movie he sees on TV, and the crime spree of Charles Starkweather, who committed several murders throughout Nebraska in the late 50’s. His guitar tech ends up helping him get set up with a four track recorder where he records these songs right at home.
Bruce loves the raw sound of these recordings and finds out it is not something he can recreate in a full studio setting. He gets back with the E street band to record a bunch of songs, including some of the hits that would later be released on Born In the U.S.A. However, the darker, more personal songs can’t be re-produced with the level of production the label prefers. He feels there is something lost in the over-production and insists these songs be released from the version he recorded at home.
I thought Jeremy Allen White did a decent job as Bruce. I wouldn’t say I loved his performance, but he was alright. It looked like he really strained to sing, and I couldn’t help but notice that he always seemed to have his head cocked to the side, especially in the diner scenes. Maybe he was honestly capturing Bruce’s posture and delivery, but it almost felt distracting at times. Other than that he did a good job. The movie also had a terrific supporting cast with Jeremy Strong as his manager, Stephen Graham as his father, , and Paul Walter Hauser as his tech, among others.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this movie is that it centered on the making of one specific album. I feel like most biopics try to cover an artist’s entire career which can hardly be done in two hours or so. Focusing on one specific period of his life allowed the film to take things a little slower and dive a little deeper into the thoughts and struggles that he was having. On top of that, it wasn’t centered around his most commercially successful album, which was a nice artistic choice. They instead decided to hone in on the period of time where he was perhaps his most vulnerable and inspired.
My favorite part of the story is how once he had heard about four track recorders for home recording (new technology at the time), he learned how to use it (with help from his tech) and recorded all these songs himself. He then went to his record label, insisted on using his recordings as the album version, and also insisted that his face not be on the cover, that there be no press for the album, and that there would be no touring off of the album. That’s how you know just how much clout this guy had and how good his manager must have been. Despite having no singles, the record label still agreed to release it. My guess is that because he already had hits like Born In the U.S.A and Glory Days recorded, they allowed him to put this record out as long as the next one would come out quickly.
One of my other favorite parts of this film was the music in the black and white flashback sequences. Every time the story flashes back to his childhood there is a single semi-clean toned guitar playing beautiful, haunting music, sometimes accompanied by other stringed instruments. I could listen to that all day.
All in all I enjoyed this movie. There were times where it felt a little slow or like nothing was really happening, but this story was more about the introspection and the thought processes behind the crafting of these deeply personal songs. I guess it wasn’t necessarily meant to have a lot happening. It was a different take on the music biography which was refreshing. If you’ve watched and liked other movies in this genre, you’ll likely appreciate this one as well.
Overall Verdict: This biopic might not be for everyone as it can feel a little slow at times and only covers a very specific point of Bruce’s career. However, it is well made and has a good cast which helps really bring the story to life.
Releasing: February 27, 2026
Releasing: March 6, 2026
Releasing: March 6, 2026