As expected from Spielberg, it's a finely executed movie. The main qualm I have is that the film has two different stories, that don't clearly tie together. There's the story of his progression as a filmmaker. Then there's the story of his family falling apart.

The problem is, the movie wants the first story to be the primary story, and the second to be a source of conflict in his journey. But it doesn't quite work, because his filmmaking journey is completely straightforward and rather uninteresting.

Therefore the drama all comes from the second, which forces the script to constantly have to shoehorn in references to cameras and filmmaking. See: the scene with Bennie at the camera shop. See: everyone constantly reminding Sammy not to give up filmmaking or it'll break his momma's heart.

I understand it's biographical, therefore you're limited by what you can write, but the narrative theme was just not terribly cohesive as a result.