Very disappointing

Rating: 2/10 (4 January 2008)

As a big Bob Dylan fan, I was really looking forward to this film. I was very disappointed. It was too long and far too pretentious. It was even worse for friends who were not familiar with some of the more obscure aspects of Dylan's life. There are large chunks of the film which simply make no sense if you don't know about the situation they're representing.
I really enjoyed the 'version' of Dylan represented by the young black "Woody Guthrie" boy. That particular part was well thought out and well-acted and the music was certainly the best in the movie. I also thought the "Arthur Rimbaud" character made sense, though this was a very minimal part of the film. However, the rest of the movie was absolute tripe.
Cate Blanchett played the part of 1965/6 Dylan fantastically, adopting the mannerisms expertly, but the dialogue she had to utter was atrocious as were the situations in which the character was put. The section of the film set in England, including the "Don't Look Back" part, was absolutely appalling. Aside from the man playing the Albert Grossman character and Bruce Greenwood's depiction of a cynical journalist, the acting of the smaller parts was abysmal. England was filled with terrible actors with, on the whole, terrible fake posh-English accents.
Richard Gere's "Billy the Kid" aspect of the film lacked any impact at all and seemed quite pointless. Heath Ledger's section had slightly more to it, assumedly representing Bob Dylan's romantic life with Suze Rotolo and Sara Dylan as well as his family life, but was ultimately dull and inconsequential. As for Christian Bale's performance, it was horrible. The man sounded like some sort of comedy caricature of Bob Dylan - done badly. His acting was equally atrocious.
If you're a big Bob Dylan fan like myself, you might get a little something out of it. Especially enjoyment of the Woody Guthrie character. You may also enjoy Cate Blanchett's depiction of Dylan with its accurate mannerisms. However, I don't think it's really worth 135 minutes of your time. If you're not a Bob Dylan fan, I really wouldn't bother. You're not going to gain anything from it and I doubt you'd enjoy it.