Movie review: 'Complete Unknown' oversimplifies Bob Dylan's impact

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A Complete Unknown feels like a script written to justify actors giving performances as famous musicians rather than performers servicing the story. The story ultimately feels reductive of Bob Dylan's impact on the music industry and culture.

Dylan (Timothee Chalamet) hitchhikes to New York to visit Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), who is in the hospital with Huntington's disease. He gets to play for Guthrie, and Guthrie's friend, Pete Seeger (Edward Norton), is there to hear it. Seeger decides to mentor Dylan.

Soon after following Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro) on lineups, Dylan and Baez are headlining tours together.

Chalamet, Barbaro and Norton do a great job embodying Dylan, Baez and Seeger, respectively, and handle their music impeccably. The actors also convincingly hit the character notes the script requires, but that script makes abrupt, sharp turns.

It must be a challenging task to convey the importance of any artist in two hours, let alone three who were deeply involved in political movements at a country's turning points. The film struggles to convey what these songs actually meant to the people protesting segregation and the Vietnam War in the '60s.

The screenplay by director James Mangold with writer Jay Cocks takes to alternating between major events on the news and a song. So, there's the Cuban Missile Crisis on the news, then a song, then the March on Washington, then a new song, then President John F. Kennedy's assassination, then a song.

After 1963, there are gaps in major historic events, though Dylan's road manager, Bobby Neuwirth (Will Harrison), refers to the assassination of Malcolm X offhandedly late in the movie. There is one effective scene that shows New York panicking during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the film fails to connect the songs to the gravitas of other events.

A Complete Unknown shows Dylan writing songs without the biopic cliche of having inspiration spelled out right in a scene. However, the only insight into his songwriting process is that he strums his guitar without wearing a shirt, which will surely make Chalamet fans happy.

A scant effort is made to explain the philosophy Dylan expresses in his songs. He provides an interpretation of the Bette Davis film, Now, Voyager, which speaks to his broader thinking, but more of that could have helped explain how provocative his words were to listeners.

Viewers who did not live through the '60s will have to take the film's word that these songs inspired a counterculture revolution. The film does not show the songs making an impact on society other than making Dylan more wealthy and famous, a fact that Dylan resents.

The only impact of popularity A Complete Unknown shows is that Dylan hated being famous. That's an understandable reaction for someone who didn't get into music to become a rock star, but without highlighting his altruistic purpose, he just comes off as an ingrate.

The second half of the movie focuses on the folk community's opposition to Dylan's evolving music, mainly that he used electric instruments beginning in 1965. "Dylan went electric" is a cultural shorthand for artists who succeeded in changing their style, but it doesn't seem revolutionary in the film.

The Newport Folk Festival, co-founded by Seeger, is understandably nervous about what Dylan might play as the closing act. It may seem like for the festival that gave him his start in folk and asked him back, Dylan should play folk songs, but he is also the headliner who brings a lot of fans to the show.

Still, if he didn't want to play what they requested, he could have just passed on the invitation.

The climax of the film features Chalamet performing Dylan's entire three-song set, plus an encore. It doesn't really paint the folk festival as an oppressive establishment Dylan needs to rebel against, and the fact that it didn't hurt his career robs the scene of any suspense, despite a hostile crowd.

In exploring Dylan's personal life, the film shows how he could be selfish and abrasive, but also charming. Baez falls for the bad boy act, according to this movie, though does get tired of it, which is perhaps this film's idea of empowerment.

Coming off worse is Dylan's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning). She expresses the pain of being a performer's second choice, except the film also treats her like a supporting character with minimal inner life.

Shortly after she meets Dylan in a church and they begin to date, Russo complains that Dylan never talks about his past. That's a valid concern, but the audience hasn't even gotten to know either of them yet.

Sylvie volunteers with a political organization, which she talks about, but the film never shows her doing any of that work. After their breakup, Sylvie comes running as soon as Dylan shows up again.

It is clear that Dylan is not good for her. It is unfortunate that the film shortchanges her character as much as Dylan allegedly did.

Dylan introduces another girlfriend in 1965, Becka (Laura Kariuki), whom Dylan ultimately reveals he just met. It's unclear what "just met" means to Dylan, whether a week, a month or even a year is the honeymoon phase for him.

If his attitude is meant to be an ironic comment on these fleeting relationships, it is lost by the fact that Becka is yet another female character shortchanged in the film. Neuwirth does call Dylan out on what exactly he's rebelling against, but the film never answers that very astute observation.

In addition to the performances, Mangold puts the film together well. It looks like the '60s and it looks like there are thousands of people assembled to hear Dylan and Baez.

Those trappings hang on a story that offers little insight into the major performers it portrays. Perhaps fans of those artists will pick up on other subtleties, but for a novice, it feels superficial.

Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012 and the Critics Choice Association since 2023. Read more of his work in Entertainment.