The Fabelman’s is a fairly unique film in Stephen Spielberg’s filmography. It’s a very small, very grounded film… not at all like his blockbusters or even his more down-to-earth Big Idea films. Indeed, it’s basically his biography only slightly veiled by calling the family The Fabelmans. I was excited to see Spielberg talking about Spielberg… I’m just not sure I got the exact version of his bio I was expecting.

The flick is a coming-of-age film about “Sam Fabelman”, a boy with a love for motion pictures. It follows him first as a child and then through his teen years. It focuses heavily on his mother (Michelle Williams) and then on his high school while also flitting about a few other events, never really settling on anything specific.

All of this is surely deeply personal and meaningful to Spielberg… but a decent amount of it had me wondering why these were the events he was focusing on. I give the movie credit for at least not doing the typical biopic thing of, for example, showing Sam on the beach, gleam in his eye as a shark swims by. But, on the other hand, a little more relatability to the actual ticket-buying audience might not have been a bad idea. A little more of that Spielberg magic for the masses.

Much of the film focuses on his mother, played by Michelle Williams. Her character is at once lovely and supportive, but also a little selfish and unlikable. It’s a fine balancing act and Williams nails every scene, reminding us that the girl from Dawson’s Creek is so very good at her job. I just wish I walked away from the film fully agreeing with or accepting the final emotional understanding “Sam” has about her. I’m sure this is exactly what Spielberg felt about his real mother… I’m just not sure it was communicated well to skeptical me.

The scenes where young Sam sees his first movie and then recreates it on his dad’s film camera were lovely and gave me a smile. This is what I, selfishly perhaps, wanted to see more of in the movie. We later see him making pictures for his friends and family and those are fun too. But they are also a very small percentage of the film. Film is where the character is going, but the movie has a subtle disinterest in really exploring it. Weird since that’s the movie I thought I was paying to see.

One event at the end of the film saved the movie for me. Sam’s encounter with a famous living legend director and how Spielberg cheekily pans the camera in the last shot, as if it to tell us, yes, he took the advice to heart. That felt pure, that felt honest, that felt like Spielberg, that felt like the movie I went to see.

I wish I loved this movie more and yet I still give it a high score. I almost came down with a lower rating, but it’s still a well acted, well written, and (of course) well directed film that absolutely did not bore me. I just wish I connected with it more… that it found that special Spielberg sauce that really challenged or lifted me up. I wish I loved it as much as Spielberg clearly did.

Score: 86