Timothée Chalamet ‘electrifying’ as Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown as rave critiques reward him for SAVING movie

Timothée Chalamet’s performance as legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s biopic, A Complete Unknown, has been dubbed as ‘electrifying.’

The 28-year-old Oscar nominee, who did not have any face time with the Like A Rolling Stone hitmaker, 83, prior to playing him, has been praised by critics for saving the film, despite its flaws. 

The movie focuses on Dylan’s early career, his transition from folk to rock, and his iconic performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.

‘It has many similar strengths [as Walk the Line] but different weaknesses, though Timothée Chalamet’s electrifying – in every sense – lead performance is not among the latter,’ wrote David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter.  

Rooney added that ‘neither the movie nor the actor sugarcoat the abrasiveness of a creative genius whose insensitivity toward people close to him often stands in stark contrast to the humanity in his songs.’ 

‘[Chalamet] who convincingly does all his own singing here, was the perfect choice to play Dylan. Really, the only choice. He makes the movie,’ Johnny Oleksinski from the New York Post wrote. 

‘Chalamet isn’t becoming Bob Dylan. He’s carefully crafting a performance that’s evocative of him, while channeling some wild, mercurial thing in the ether,’ David Fear from Rolling Stone wrote. 

Others commanded Kylie Jenner‘s boyfriend — who took home the Visionary Tribute award at The Gotham Film Awards earlier this month — for even attempting to capture such a complex character. 

‘Perhaps Dylan himself is too mercurial a figure for a biopic to ever capture him completely… but A Complete Unknown comes about as close as one could reasonably hope,’ Robbie Collin from Daily Telegraph UK wrote.

‘Chalamet has the rangy, boyish appeal so central to Dylan’s nascent image, but ably complicates the picture with flecks of haughty arrogance, mercurial temper, aloof disregard for the feelings of those around him,’ Richard Lawson from Vanity Fair stated.

He added, ‘To watch him is to feel what so many other characters in the film do: an affection and a curious sense of loss as he drifts away into the lonely mists of talent and fame.’

‘Chalamet rises to the challenge of capturing the prickly charisma of Dylan’s inchoate, anti-matter, read-between-the-lines personality. It’s a transfixing performance that’s true to Dylan and, just as important, true to the logic of movies,’ Owen Gleiberman from Variety wrote. 

A number of reviews noted that though the film is respectful of Dylan’s music and well-made, it doesn’t fully capture the magic of Dylan.

‘[The film] takes a reverent stance to Dylan’s artistry, populated by technically accomplished musical performances, and shot with a real sensitivity to the emotional landscape of each track. It’s dutiful work. But dutiful doesn’t really cut it with Dylan,’ Clarisse Loughrey from the Independent wrote.

Loughrey also noted that Chalamet might not be as suited for playing Dylan as Joaquin Phoenix was in his portrayal of Johnny Cash, in Mangold’s 2005 film Walk the Line. 

‘Chalamet, perhaps, isn’t as perfectly poised to play Dylan as Phoenix was to play Cash. There’s something a touch too uncrumpled about his persona, even if the steam-cloud coif and sunglasses barricade help with the transformation in his later scenes.’ 

‘Goes heavy on convincing musical performances to make up for the fact that it has nothing astute to say about its subject—in large part because it doesn’t seem to really know him,’ Nick Schager from The Daily Beast wrote.

Last month Chalamet admitted he never met Dylan, while appearing on Apple Music 1’s The Zane Lowe Show.

The actor noted that he ‘would love to’ meet Dylan but the Blowin’ In The Wind artist has kept a low-profile in recent years.

‘He’s sort of retreated from the public eye,’ Chalamet said. ‘Never met him … I’ve seen him live.’

Chalamet – who leads a cast also featuring Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Scoot McNairy – said that Dylan had a measure of creative control throughout production of the Mangold-directed biographical drama.

‘He approved the script, he made modifications to the script, there are lines that are his in the script that I relished,’ Chalamet said in the interview.

Chalamet said he hoped Mangold would pass along a script Dylan made notes on as a holy grail cinematic memento.

‘There was one I was saying to Jim Mangold … “This is good, man – when did you come up with this?” He goes, “Bob put that in.” He has the Bob-annotated script. I want it.’

Chalamet said he sang and performed in the film, and did not seek to emulate Dylan, as it wouldn’t have ‘make sense’ creatively to even attempt to impersonate the musical staple.

‘Bob did not have a vocal coach,’ he told Lowe. ‘He had two bottles of red wine and four packs of cigarettes – there’s no way to impersonate that.’

In the interview, Chalamet said his prep to play Dylan included work with a harmonica coach for a five-year span; and a ‘spirit-gathering’ drive through locations integral to Dylan’s roots with stops in Minnesota, Illinois and Wisconsin.

‘I’m happy it took five, six years because I am now deep in that Church of Bob,’ Chalamet said. ‘I feel like that’s my mission is the next three months, until the movie comes out, I feel like I’m in the Church of Bob, I’m a humble disciple.’

A Complete Unknown is due in theaters Christmas day.

Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman) concluded his Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour in London last month. 

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is truly a national treasure having received 10 Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Pulitzer Prize special citation, and the Nobel Prize in literature.