The day a guy named Bob Dylan first shambled into New York City—a tattered pack on his back, a beat-up guitar in hand, a cigarette dangling from his lower lip—was no special day. It was like so many others before and after.
But this day is special for him. Because today, this frowzled young man is determined to find folk artist Woody Guthrie, to tell the singer how important he’d been to Dylan. Guthrie’s songs had knocked Dylan flat the first time he heard them. They helped spur him on to writing some new songs of his own.
The problem is, Woody Guthrie isn’t in New York as Dylan had been told. Guthrie’s health had worsened, and he was in a run-down psychiatric facility in New Jersey. So, Dylan starts hitching his way there.
When he finally arrives, he finds Guthrie in poor shape indeed. The man’s Huntington’s disease had beaten him down to the point of barely being able to move or talk. Guthrie is lying, defeated and humbled, in a shabby bed. Pete Seeger, his one last friend, sits at his bedside.
The two men listened as Dylan has his say, praising Guthrie, speaking of the man’s inspiration, delivering his thanks. Then, as Dylan turned to go, Pete Seeger, a seasoned folk artist himself, said, “So, play it.”
“Play what?” Dylan asked.
“The song you were inspired to write.”
Dylan picks up his guitar and plays. His gruff, nasal voice sings of struggles and pain. And Guthrie is visibly moved. In fact, that’s the moment Pete Seeger decides to help this scruffy young folk singer. So he gives Dylan a couch to sleep on for the night. Maybe Seeger can even open a few doors for the guy.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
In this pic, Bob Dylan is scripted and played as a fairly one-dimensional rebel … with talent. So he’s not particularly likeable, on the whole. But his gifts open doors. And his music moves a new generation of music lovers to think in new ways about topics such as racism, the Vietnam War and civil rights.
Those positive social impacts are the plusses in A Complete Unknown, along with the suggestion that sometimes musical and social progress require pushing back against an entrenched system.
We see a couple of folk artists playing in church settings. It’s casually mentioned that Bob Dylan is of Jewish descent.
Dylan woos and “shacks up” with several women during the course of A Complete Unknown. We see him in bed with different individuals on several occasions—in one instance sleeping with one woman while he’s officially “dating” another.
Sometimes he stands up out of bed and walks around dressed only in boxer shorts. We see fellow singer Joan Baez rise out of bed and throw on a thin T-shirt (facing away from the camera). It’s clear that she doesn’t have any undergarments on as she walks about.
Dylan kisses several different women.
A music agent carries a concealed weapon. And later in the movie, this guy gets into a knock-down, drag-out fight with someone who’s trying to stop a concert. In fact, that particular concert is filled with a number of disgruntled people and almost turns into a riot as Bob Dylan plays his latest brand of electric folk music.
Dylan gets punched in the face during a tussle in a bar. We hear newscasts about public riots in the city streets.
There are more than 20 f-words and 10 s-words scattered throughout A Complete Unknown. Those profanities are joined by multiple uses each of “a–hole,” “a–,” “h—” and “d–n.” Jesus’ and God’s names are misused a total of five times (one of those pairing God and “d–n”).
Someone uses an offensive hand gesture.
Seemingly everyone smokes during this slice of time in the ‘60s. People smoke in dining rooms; in theaters; while playing on TV; as airplane passengers; in bars; and many times, from the moment they rise out of bed.
Dylan and his musical compatriots tend to be pretty heavy drinkers as well. Scenes in Dylan’s apartment and hotel rooms show those places littered with beer and booze bottles. A young Johnny Cash is also portrayed as a very heavy drinker. We see him swilling from a bottle and visibly drunk on a couple of occasions. People also down mixed drinks in music clubs and bars.
Characters puff marijuana joints on several occasions.
When talking up a pretty woman, Dylan mentions that he once worked in a circus freak show. But he notes that anyone who wants to attract attention on stage has “gotta be a freak.”
We also see a number of newscasts that give historical context to A Complete Unknown’s timeline. They talk about everything from the presidential assassination to public concerns over turmoil in the “negro community.”
If A Complete Unknown were evaluated from a purely aesthetic perspective, it would probably receive high praise. Timothée Chalamet’s character choices—from his impressive Dylanesque vocals to his consistent and nuanced physical mannerisms—are top shelf. Monica Barbaro (as Joan Baez) and Edward Norton (as Pete Seeger) are equally laudable on that acting-chops front.
Throw in director James Mangold’s well-designed set pieces and respectable cinematography, and you’ve got a film that cries out, Look at me! And that may be all that’s necessary for upcoming awards shows.
The thing is, if you’re looking for a 2.5 hour movie getaway, you probably want more than just an impressive acting workshop. You likely want to be drawn into an immersive story. You want something that talks about more than who Dylan was sleeping with when he wrote “It Ain’t Me Babe,” or what his favorite recreational drug was in 1964.
And that is where A Complete Unknown stumbles.
The story puffs the joints and peppers its 1960s scenes with f-bombs. It rolls in the sheets, swigs the booze and sings the tunes. But Chalamet’s Dylan is all one note. We don’t really learn anything about the man or where his music came from. We don’t see him change or grow. For that matter, we ultimately don’t care.
So in the end, A Complete Unknown—with all its many baked-in problems—will likely fall flat for discerning audience.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
Our weekly newsletter will keep you in the loop on the biggest things happening in entertainment and technology. Sign up today, and we’ll send you a chapter from the new Plugged In book, Becoming a Screen-Savvy Family, that focuses on how to implement a “screentime reset” in your family!
