Bob Dylan rolls into town circa 1961 to meet his musical heroes and play some folk songs in order to make a name for himself. Apparently, the logical progression is to jump directly from Willy Wonka to Bob Dylan, but Timmy C. gives it his all, inhabiting the role of the enigmatic singer-songwriter and providing all the instrumental and vocal performances himself. While the film succeeds in dispelling some of his aloof persona, it doesn't shy away from revealing the prickly idiosyncrasies front and center. Bob wants to do what he wants and he pisses people off in order to remain true to himself. That sort of strategy only works if you've got the raw talent to back it up. As such, there's not a lot of stakes involved (there are two women at the center of this story), and at the end of the day, I don't really feel like I got a very good sense of the man, nor have I come away with any kind of revelation. Which I guess remains true to its title. There's a lot of artifice involved in biopics; you really have to suspend your disbelief, because I was aware the entire time that Chalamet was just doing his best Dylan impersonation. At no point did I feel like he lost himself in the role. James Mangold has experience in this genre with Walk the Line, but I found this to be a wholly inferior effort. It's got a lot of good tunes and strong performances, but I wasn't exactly bowled over by any of it.
3½ Times They Are A-Changin' out of 5
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