Blinded by the Light

Director: Gurinder Chadha
Year Released: 2019
Rating: 0.5

"... Wrapped up like a douche in the middle of the night."  Teenager Javed (Viveik Kalra), a Pakistani living in England with his rigid father, discovers the music of Bruce Springsteen and becomes infatuated with him, finding meaning in his lyrics that apply to his own life.  I like the sentiment that great music is universal - and anyone that hasn't listened to The Boss needs to fix that right away - but this is an overbearingly calculated movie: around every corner is a loogie-spitting skinhead or bratty kids who pee on carpets ... and if it isn't them it's Javed's father belittling him and being constantly disappointed.  And after they've played every single Springsteen song - sometimes using PowerPoint slides with the lyrics and projecting them on buildings - Javed has to give a speech about his Pop and his love of music and only then do they Meet on Common Ground.  Chadha has all the directorial grace of a one-armed, one-legged person trying to skip rope.