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Aug 19, 2019

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‘Blinded by the Light' Review: Springsteen-Themed Musical Is Sappy but Crowd-Pleasing Filmmaking

August 14, 2019 Jordan Ruimy

Bruce Springsteen is a God amongst Gods in my world. I worship at the altar of “The Boss.” So, of course, I had a clear-cut bias going into Gurinder Chadha’s “ Blinded By the Light,” and, yes, shockingly, I absolutely adored almost every minute of this un-shamefully sappy 2-hour movie. Its saving grace is its understanding of how music can be life-saving to teenagers in need of guidance. The power of rock and roll. However, even non-Springsteen fans were rather smitten by it at Sundance, where it had its world premiere this past January. “Blinded by the Light” has the potential to be a major crossover hit.

Of note: I will admit that my A- review from Sundance (below) should probably now, after further reflection, be lowered to a B+. Here’s the concluding paragraph of my Sundance review dated 1.29.19:

“This is easily Chadha’s best movie since “Bend it Like Beckham,” taps into a similar rousing spirit and is destined to become a huge hit that crosses generational and cultural lines—not unlike the way Springsteen’s music lifted up a Pakistani teenager in the 1980s thousands of miles away in Great Britain. This is perhaps the true heartrending power of Chadha’s film, one that need not dwell too much about race and culture, because the uniting love of a soulful rock spiritually is universally uniting. The Boss would be proud.”

“Blinded by the Light” is released theatrically in the U.S. on Friday August 16th.

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