I have to say I think Paul was being charitable in his review of this movie:
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My take:
6/10
If all things were equal and Steven Spielberg’s name wasn’t involved with “The Fabelmans,” is there really any chance this pedestrian examination of a ‘60s Jewish family and its aspiring filmmaker teen hero would have generated multiple Academy Award nominations?
Spielberg’s autobiographical film, which under a script by the director and Tony Kushner, retells his existence with a brilliant yet detached father (Paul Dano) and eccentric Mom (Michelle Williams) in ‘60s suburbia, from New Jersey to Arizona and, eventually, California. Spielberg’s alter-ego, “Sammy,” is nicely played by Gabriel LaBelle and the sequences of him trying to acclimate to high school life after being uprooted by his father’s new job are watchable enough – yet even those moments are just along the lines of a typical “Wonder Years” episode, while there’s little else in this movie’s episodic structure that’s truly remarkable.
Much of the drama is supposed to be generated by the mother’s infidelity and eccentricity – but Williams fails to convincingly inhabit this offbeat/stubborn/lovable character, her performance coming off as affected and with echoes of “acting!” as Jon Lovitz once enthused on the good o’l days of Saturday Night Live. Dano is also overly mannered and, in his own way, not entirely believable either – it’s as if Spielberg opted to go with what he felt were “talented younger stars” for these parts but neither delivers the kind of performance the film needs to be grounded in for their crucial sequences to work – and the movie is much more about them than any concerns about Sammy’s future filmmaking prowess. By contrast, at least Seth Rogen believably portrays the Uncle who has eyes for Williams, even though their relationship is mostly kept at a distance from Sammy, away from him – and the audience.
The net result simply doesn’t amount to much, capped by an underwhelming finale that feels like the end of just another “episode” in the film, Sammy dancing into the end credits without generating any sort of real emotional undercurrent. “The Fabelmans” is a disappointingly minor film that was sold as being as its director’s most personal – either way, it’s also far from being his best.
Universal’s 4K UHD (1.85) of “The Fabelmans” includes Dolby Vision HDR and a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack – as you’d expect the movie is technically up to par through Janusz Kaminski’s trademark lensing and John Williams’ sparse score. What would have been more interesting for Williams, and the audience, is if Spielberg had isolated Williams’ contributions to the sequences involving Sammy’s cinematic work, as Williams’ sparse score has little to do but comment on the family drama in a conventional and thankless way. Extra features include three featurettes, a Digital HD copy and the Blu-Ray.
