This was supposedly (according to the descriptions in IMDB) loosely based on how Steven Spielberg developed his interest in film and movie-making. The first half of the movie addressed that well and was interesting. Particularly the storyline involving Seth Grogan. Once his character left, the movie's tone changed significantly.

The second half of the movie saw the focus shift to the disfunction of the Jewish Fabelman family and their move to California. The tone then shifted from movie making to Sammy's nutty mom, and. Sammy's own difficulty in high school, specifically with two raciest schoolmate bullies who looked to be in their 20's (as did many of the extras who portrayed high school students), and a Jesus-believing hypocritical Christian girl who the non-Jesus believing Sammy falls in love with. Taking cheap shots at Christians seems to be getting common in Hollywood these days, and this movie is no exception!

Point is the second half of the movie went off track and, except for a couple of situations, rarely addressed Sammy's growth in moviemaking and became more of a family soap opera. Which was disappointing.

Still, the acting in it was very good, particularly from the Fabelman kids and Paul Dano, who was fresh off his role as the psychotic Riddler in "The Batman", a 360 degree role reversal. Michelle Williams, however, will probably get all of the attention, and very possibly an Oscar nomination, even though her acting was over the top at times. But still very good. So the story overall was good, filmed nicely, and acted very well. Worth a look. But I'd recommend a matinee.