Despite the tantalising title, this isn’t a nostalgic comedy in which the Boss and his sidekick drink their way across the Lakes (‘I demand to have some Bruce!’). Rather it’s a fan-sourced doc in which rabid Springsteenians pour out their love for the main man. Predictably, it’s sentimental, rose-tinted stuff, but there are enough genuinely funny and heartfelt reminiscences to make the exercise worthwhile, and some great shakycam concert clips when the gush gets too much. Stars of the show include an ageing rocker whose Elvis impersonation first impressed then overshadowed the star attraction, a soccer mom who forces her kids to learn Bruce lyrics in the car and a European busker who managed to persuade his hero to join him for a 15-minute street jam.
Given the shoddy camerawork and grainy digital footage, ‘Springsteen & I’ probably doesn’t belong on the big screen, but all the little blue-collar Bosses and Bossettes out there in Jungleland will lap up this lively low-budget love letter. Cinema screenings come with 30 minutes of largely average live footage from last year’s Hyde Park concert, including a seriously shonky stadium-rock version of ‘Twist and Shout’ with Paul McCartney.