Bruce Springsteen’s Deliver Me From Nowhere Can’t Dethrone Rotten Tomatoes’ Top Music Biopic

Jeremy Allen White has a new movie about Bruce Springsteen on the way, and it is not your typical cradle-to-Grammys music biopic. It zeroes in on the stark, lonely creative headspace that birthed Springsteen's 1982 album 'Nebraska' — which, if you know the record, fits. The film is bold, moody, and serious about process. But if you are wondering whether it dethrones 'Rocketman' as the modern benchmark for music biopics, the short version is: nah.

Why 'Rocketman' still wears the crown

Taron Egerton's 'Rocketman' remains the flashy, full-throated standard-bearer — the one that refuses to sand down the rough edges of Elton John's life. On Rotten Tomatoes, it sits at 89%, and the official critics consensus basically dares anyone to top it:

'It’s going to be a long, long time before a rock biopic manages to capture the highs and lows of an artist’s life like Rocketman.'

It's big, it's theatrical, and it actually sings (literally). That movie commits to the full high-and-low sweep, and it pays off both critically and commercially.

'Deliver Me From Nowhere' goes small on purpose — and that is divisive

White's film, produced by 20th Century Studios and also referred to as 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere', aims for something more hushed and internal. It recreates the period around 'Nebraska' — an album recorded at home on a four-track — and leans into the isolation and artistic risk of that moment. That creative choice is interesting but also a bit of a curveball: the movie reportedly spends surprisingly little time on the music itself and, weirdly, not a ton on Springsteen as a presence in the story. If you're expecting the usual tour of triumphs and implosions, this is not that.

Critics are split. Several outlets — Clash Magazine, NME, and the Daily Telegraph — are into it, with praise for how the movie portrays the grind and cost of making art. The Telegraph also singles out the acting: Jeremy Strong finds a part that lets him lean into the mechanics of creation, and something raw and affecting comes through in Jeremy Allen White's lead performance. On the other end, some reviews argue the film leaves too many 'why' questions unanswered. The London Evening Standard basically says you cannot just explain how things happen; you have to wrestle with why, and that's where this fumbles. The Sun calls the production clunky and overwritten, says the music is not overused (a plus), but ultimately feels the film wastes a potentially fascinating subject we never really get to know.

So you end up with a movie that can be gripping and resonant in the moment, but also leaves a crowd wanting a deeper dive into the man himself. That tension explains the numbers.

• Lead actors: 'Rocketman' — Taron Egerton; 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' — Jeremy Allen White (with Jeremy Strong in a key supporting role)
• Rotten Tomatoes: 'Rocketman' — 89%; 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' — 73%
• IMDb user scores: 'Rocketman' — 7.3; 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' — 5.6
• Budgets: 'Rocketman' — $40 million; 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' — $50 million
• Box office: 'Rocketman' — $195.3 million; 'Deliver Me From Nowhere' — N/A
• Availability: 'Rocketman' is streaming on TNT and TBS
• Release: 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' premieres October 24, 2025

The takeaway

'Deliver Me From Nowhere' is a risky, moody character study that narrows in on a single, pivotal chapter instead of the whole Springsteen myth. That is a cool swing, but not the crowd-pleasing kind — which is why some critics are moved by its craft and others wish it dug deeper. Meanwhile, 'Rocketman' still has the belt: bigger, braver, and built to win both the critics and the Saturday-night crowd.