Blinded by the Light is a Perfectly Fine Film

(which is not to be confused with a “fine film”)

The review:

Gurinder Chadha creates a perfectly pleasant and predictable* Sunday Afternoon Movie* with Blinded by the Light. Springsteen’s music is ably used to further the plot—especially when Viveik Kalra’s character Javed is first introduced to the Boss during a terrible storm.** I had a lot of problems with this film, but enjoyed the lead performances, the depiction 80s-era discrimination, and period details.***

The verdict: Good

(just barely)

Cost: $11.00
Where watched: Baghdad Theater with an audience of Bruce fans who clapped at the end.

Consider also watching:

• The Grand Seduction
• Under the Tuscan Sun
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
• The Old Man and the Gun

Further sentences:

*Literally every scene played out in a way that was not at all surprising.
**A movie watched as the last pleasant gasp of weekend before the unpleasant chores to gear up for the week begin.
**That said, with the depth of the Springsteen catalog, I would have liked them to not have used “Born to Run” in two different parts of the film.
***Though it did the thing I hate: deploy outdated technology for no purpose except to make the audience laugh. In this movie there was a scene with an early mobile phone. The phone had no reason to be in that scene.

Favorite IMDB Trivia Item:

The movie is inspired by the life of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor and his love of the works of Bruce Springsteen. It is based on Manzoor’s memoir Greetings from Bury Park