The screenplay and acting were irredeemably bad IMHO. I get that this is a true story and is apparently quite accurate to the people and events, but almost every scene was like nails on a chalkboard to me... and I'm not a hyper critical audience! The evolution of Spielberg's film making was cool, but why he wanted to make a movie wallowing in his oddball mother... and not to have it written and acted better is beyond me. Even the name of the film is awkward and actually off-putting to me. I quit on this movie about 45 minutes in... my wife thought enough of it to finish it... so, who knows, maybe you'll like it.