Steven Spielberg is a genius no questions, he can make action flicks as good as dramas, war movies as impeccable as comedies, sci-fi as innovative as musicals and sometimes he even has them released in the same year. Seems like he can do anything he puts his mind to and although he's had some missteps throughout his long and fruitful career he always returns with something he hasn't done before, with a new side of him out there for us to have a look. And with The Fabelmans he might just have shown us the most personal side of him since Schindler's list 30 years ago.

This story is partly based on his own recollections from his childhood and teenage years, about how he became interested in shooting motion pictures and what influenced and inspired him to grab the camera and start telling stories. The Fabelmans holds the emphasis on both Sam (Spielberg's prototype) and his mother (played by Michelle Williams) who faces crisis in marriage, struggles to keep the family together and almost loses herself in the process.

I think the weakest thing about the movie is Gabriel LaBelle who was totally miscast as he's showing almost none of the emotions he ought to have considering the circumstances that his character was under. His Sam wears the same facial expression during the movie and disappoints greatly when there come the scenes that are really emotional. Same goes to Paul Dano whose character doesn't invoke any kind of empathy toward his character - he blatantly exists in the picture, tries to be a part of it but in the end is overlooked by much stronger Michelle and this shift is what makes this movie lose the credibility of being a great movie.

You can see that Steven knows what he's talking about, and most all of the thoughts get right through the heart to your soul - that you shouldn't have to suffer to make somebody else happy, even your own family, that you should follow your dreams despite everything, be loyal to yourself, express yourself the way only you can etc. - but the execution is sloppy and rushed to say the least. As if you were handed the book that you knew you would like (because it's Spielberg, come on) but the characters were stiff, the narrative sped up and slowed down in the wrong places, many expository dialogues and characters that led to nowhere and once you've read the final words you thought to yourself - wow, I didn't expect it to be so shallow and bleak, as if it was not a passion project for Steven but just another family drama that he was a hired gun of.

The music, cinematography, the 1960s vibe, costumes - all were fantastic but due to underperformances on some actors' part and overall superficial and unengaging atmosphere of the movie didn't allow me to enjoy it as much as I was hoping for.