“Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is one of my favorite movies. The 2008 comedy perfectly satirizes musician biopics, ripping on the all-too-familiar tropes that hamstring the subgenre.

Bob Dylan is one of my favorite artists. The Nobel Prize winner encapsulates a generation, inspiring change across the country in the tumultuous 1960s.

Unfortunately, “A Complete Unknown” has too much “Walk Hard” and not enough Dylan. Bogged down by tired cliches and putrid pacing, the biopic seems way more interested in giving Timothée Chalamet the opportunity to play dress-up than it is in telling the story of one of the most important musicians of the 20th century.

The film seeks to characterize Dylan during his pivotal switch from his freewheelin’ folk ways to his electric era – a weighty task for any director, let alone one as formulaic and structured as James Mangold.

Mangold bungles most attempts to pin down who exactly Dylan is, making it nearly impossible for the audience to care about his mid-60s transition. Dylan’s most identifiable traits in “A Complete Unknown” are that he’s unlikeable and that he pushes his loved ones away in his quest for virtuosity, which could lead to an interesting narrative if handled correctly – but it isn’t.

Usually, films that deal with troubled geniuses, like “Good Will Hunting” or “Man on the Moon,” make a concerted effort to demonstrate their raw talent, but the most “A Complete Unknown” does is have Dylan sit down and play a rough draft of “Blowin’ in the Wind,” a scene that tells infinitely more than it shows.

That lack of characterization leads to Dylan’s relationships feeling simplified and rushed – he’s forced to choose between Sylvie (Elle Fanning), a genuine artist who doesn’t want to be strung along, and Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), a sellout temptress who has the talent but not the patience to entertain Dylan. Eventually, he loses both, though the breakups are largely his fault, which the film doesn’t shy away from showing.

The film’s largest selling point is its 70-song soundtrack, much of which is performed diegetically using on-set audio. While it is remarkable how much Chalamet, Baez and Edward Norton (playing Pete Seeger) sound like the real thing, the plot often comes to a screeching halt for these songs.

Sometimes, the songs work and don’t throw the pacing off, with climatic performances being properly built up to. Other times, sequences are interrupted by songs that have already been featured. For example, “House of the Risin’ Sun” is performed twice, and “Like a Rolling Stone” is played nearly in full before headlining Dylan’s electric switch an hour later in the film.

The constant live performances create a sense of monotony throughout the film. It’s fine when songs are used to introduce characters, like Joan or Johnny Cash, and while Chalamet is fantastic in replicating Dylan’s voice and mannerisms, I don’t need to watch him play half of the classic albums I already know by heart.

I understand that I’m more familiar with his discography than most in my demographic, but that begs the question of who exactly “A Complete Unknown” is for. The studio put Chalamet on “College Gameday” and “Nardwaur” to sell the movie to that coveted 25-and-younger crowd, but most people in my theater were at least well into their 30s.

Chalamet is the brightest part of the film, faithfully imitating Dylan without over-exaggerating, which is difficult considering just how iconic Dylan’s oft-parodied nasally voice is. Norton’s Seeger is respectful, as well, and only Boyd Holbrook’s Johnny Cash was subpar. Holbrook’s performance is closest to a “Saturday Night Live” impression, which gets grating after several scenes.

Plot-wise, “A Complete Unknown” isn’t too by-the-numbers, but nothing surprising or shocking happens. There’s no themes or messages designed to challenge the audience or define what it means to be an artist, just a simple musical journey from point A to point B. Often, the film is just a historical reenactment, as there’s little flavor that’ll stick with you after leaving the theater.

“A Complete Unknown” doesn’t work, despite Chalamet, Barbaro and Norton’s fantastic showings. Encapsulating Dylan is an ambitious task, one that few writers and directors could tackle – and none of them worked on this movie. If you want to see stellar performances and be taken back to the electrifying 1960s, you’ll have a great time, but if you want to learn more about Dylan than a Wikipedia article could tell you, don’t waste your time.

5/10.