X
- 2022
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 31 m
- 2022
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 31 m
Summary The Fabelmans are 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), his artistic mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams), and his successful, scientific father Burt (Paul Dano), and his younger sisters.
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Written By: Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
- 2022
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 31 m
- 2022
- PG-13
- Universal Pictures
- 2 h 31 m
The Fabelmans
7.5
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Summary The Fabelmans are 16-year-old aspiring filmmaker Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), his artistic mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams), and his successful, scientific father Burt (Paul Dano), and his younger sisters.
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Written By: Steven Spielberg, Tony Kushner
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 65 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
60 Reviews
60 Reviews
8% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 65 Critic Reviews
85
92% Positive
60 Reviews
60 Reviews
8% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The thing about Spielberg these days is he makes this stuff look easy.
If the movie does adhere to his signature beats, and feature so many recognizable Spielbergisms, occasionally to its detriment, it’s still one of the most impressive, enlightening, vital things he’s ever done.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 235 User Ratings
7.5
78% Positive
184 Ratings
184 Ratings
13% Mixed
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
9% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 235 User Ratings
7.5
78% Positive
184 Ratings
184 Ratings
13% Mixed
31 Ratings
31 Ratings
9% Negative
20 Ratings
20 Ratings
IN A NUTSHELL:
I’m obsessed with movies, so I loved this tribute to the power of movies and to director Steven Spielberg himself. It’s a coming-of-age film based on Spielberg’s childhood in post-World War II Arizona by using a fictional family called the Fablemans.
THINGS I LIKED:
Spielberg had talked about creating a film about his childhood, but it wasn’t until he had time on his hands during the Covid-19 lockdown that he began to write the screenplay with Tony Kushner. It only took them 2 months to write it together. The last time Spielberg got screenplay credit was the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001.)
The fantastic cast includes Michelle Williams, Judd Hirsch, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and young actors Mateo Zoryan and Gabriel LaBelle. They play perfectly flawed characters.
Seth Rogen said that Spielberg was often tearful on set because everything portrayed in the film really did happen to him in his childhood between ages 7 and 18.
Believe it or not, this was the very first time Spielberg has had a movie premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival where he got two standing ovations and the movie won “Best Film”!
Paul Dano played Burt Fabelman, who represented Steven Spielberg’s father, Arnold. The last scene Paul Dano filmed was shot on the anniversary of Arnold’s passing.
I love how the movie shows vulnerable moments where the young Fableman (Steven Spielberg) saw things differently than most people. It’s such a personal film for him. The length of the movie speaks to how difficult it must have been for him to cut any of the scenes out of the finished project.
I’ve been a Boy Scout merit badge counselor for many years. I remember hearing years ago that Steven Spielberg made a movie to earn his Filmmaking merit badge. We see in this movie that he really did!
The talented John Williams will soon be 91 (Feb. 2023), but he said it’s hard to say no to Spielberg when the director asked him to work with him on this and the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
I lost it during the scene where the grandmother died in the hospital because both of my parents just died last month. When Michelle Williams collapsed at her mother’s bedside, I knew her exact pain.
If you enjoy Michelle Williams’ singing voice in this movie, you definitely need to watch her belt it out in The Greatest Showman movie. Some of the jewelry she wears in this movie actually belonged to Spielberg’s mother, Ashley Atkinson. Michelle Williams looks like she really is playing the piano like that! Her acting performance in this movie was absolutely stellar. She’s one of my favorite actresses.
There is a lot of humor, as well as poignant moments that help us see into the soul of one of the greatest movie directors of our time: Steven Spielberg.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Nothing. I really enjoyed this movie and thought it was a perfect love letter to filmmaking.
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Violence
Drug use
Some teens flip the bird
Profanity, including 1 F-bomb
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Everything about this movie--especially the cast (Michelle Williams isn't a revelation because most of us already know how good she is)--is spot-on perfect. In contrast to most of his oeuvre, Speilberg obviously didn't make this movie for everyone. For those among his targeted audience, the movie is an absolute gem.
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With a coming-of-age story that is universal in its portrayal of misunderstood artists and broken homes, but hyper-specific in its portrayal of the childhood that formed a legendary filmmaker, this is a therapy session turned into a hugely entertaining movie, aided by a fantastic cast, and one of John Williams' best scores in years.
Because it's Spielberg, it's all beautifully, meticulously rendered, and not a little glazed in wistful sentiment: an infinitely tender, sometimes misty ode to the people who raised him and the singular passion for cinema that shaped him.
After you see The Fabelmans you realize this man will never stop making movies. It truly is his life. And, here, he is inviting us in to see how and why that all happened.
It might not become anyone’s favorite Spielberg flick, but it will certainly stick with you long after you watch it.
By Erin Brady
FULL REVIEW
As this semi-autobiographical film plods on, there is an unshakeable sense that in reaching for the stars, The Fabelmans instead lands somewhere more mediocre and disappointing.
By Sara Merican
FULL REVIEW
The film, which was said to be this year's Oscar contender, was an unquestionable success.
The film is a semi-autobiographical work directed by Spielberg, who also directed and wrote the screenplay. The main character's name is not Steven Spielberg, but Sammy Fablemans. The role of Fablemans was played by Gabrielle LaBelle, who won an audition of 2,000 applicants. His acting is too good to be true.
The movie also reflects Spielberg's actual experiences and so on (apparently). The Fablemans' parents, played by Paul Dano and Michelle Williams, are also modeled after Spielberg's actual parents (apparently).
My interest in this film was nonstop when I saw it in the theater. From the beginning to the end of the film, the "Spielberg-ness" of the film was so evident that I was able to watch the film with my spine aching. There are several anecdotes about his awesomeness, but knowing that, I can't describe it in words (awesomeness!). . The characterization, the artistic expression, everything was outstanding.
I love Spielberg's films. So it was nice to learn a little bit about his upbringing and the ending was perfect. I can't go into details, but the divorce, bullying, and other issues are cleared up and the film ends on a light note. This seemed to hint at the life that was to come for the protagonist. And I didn't miss the deliberate "something" in the middle.
Fablemans, despite all the Oscar hopes, failed to bring home a single Oscar statue. The Best Director award is iffy because Daniels was so good, and the acting awards for Michelle Williams and Jad Hersh are also iffy because they were pushed out by very strong contenders, but at least I think they should have won Best Picture and Best Screenplay.
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I hate to say this but this movie would not be in anybody's radar, let alone the oscars, had it not been for its director. This tells you two things, first is that the movie is directed well. Second is, even with that direction, it is forgettable, formulaic, and unoriginal. Much like Seth Rogen's character.
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Let’s be fair: If any filmmaker has earned the right to make an autobiography, it’s Steven Spielberg. Over the years, he’s given us films that were touchstones for two generations. So we owe him this self-indulgence.
What Spielberg and Co-Writer Tony Kushner (“Angels in America”) have created is puzzling. From my perspective, the film is in three acts of widely varying lengths and equally diverse intentions. The first 75% of this film traces Spielberg’s development from his first movie experience, seeing DeMille’s “The Greatest Show on Earth,” through his adolescent movie-making. It’s ironic that the re-creation of Spielberg’s early movie-making is actually pretty dull, offering little insight into his cinematic sensibilities. During this time, the fissures in his parents’ relationship - and the ripple effects throughout the family – become apparent. When it’s not being depressing or sad, this section of the film is remote and emotionally distant, apparently because of Spielberg’s tortured attempt not to take one parent’s side in the conflict.
Act Two explores Spielberg’s move to Northern California and his experiences in a high school which was apparently heavily populated by very tall Aryan males. We discover that his first girlfriend is a devout Christian (her wall is a shrine dedicated equally to Jesus, Fabian and Bobby Rydell) who hopes to save his soul. She also has apparent difficulty conflating religious fervor and sexual arousal. This section of the film is just as impressionistic as Act One, but the colors are brighter and the tone is light, if not frivolous.
Act Three lasts only a few minutes. In torment, Spielberg’s character has decided to drop out of college to pursue his dream. Along the way, he’s given a five-minute audience with Director John Ford, who offers weighty utterances about cinematic technique through vast clouds of cigar smoke. This causes our protagonist to stride happily, optimistically into the sunset for no apparent reason.
Along the way, Spielberg and Kushner offer some alternative theories about Spielberg’s passion for filmmaking. For Spielberg, is filmmaking a way to control and make meaning of the chaos around him? Possibly. Could making movies be a buffer and an escape from family tension as his parents’ marriage disintegrates? Maybe. Could making films offer an antidote for personal loneliness? Could be. Was moviemaking simply a way for Spielberg to find his place in the confusing social landscape of childhood and adolescence? Kinda. Does he enjoy playing God, deciding the winners and losers in his narratives? Perhaps. The most frustrating element of this film is that Spielberg seems more perplexed about the events around him and his own motivations than he has ever been when filming his iconic characters. But then, maybe that’s the way it is with humans. When we’re the subject of the conversation, it always messier. At the end of the day, life is apparently just as confusing for Spielberg as it is for the rest of us.
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Spielberg's linear, clichéd/trope-ridden, simplistic and ultimately self-congratulory self-biopic is not only flat but, worse, very manipulative. His voyeurism, at the expense of his friends and family, is disgusting and pretentious. I wonder what his parents would say.
Compare this with Tarkovsky's Mirror! it's 60 years old, but as poignant or poetic as it is still in advance of its times for the way memories are evoked on film. The way young Andrei's mom is included in the film is also simply beautiful. Unline Spielberg, he is not pretentious in reducing his mom to the clichéd persona of the neurotic failed artist, he transmits his love in a far more inquisitive way. On the other hand, what to expect of someone who turned the horror of the Holocaust into a dumb and simplistic spectacle in Schindler's list to sell to an uncultivated audience?
In a hundred years, dumb 'Meuricans will have forgotten Spielberg like those 1930 and 1950 makers of escapist movies, for but one film, Jaws. Tarkovsky and Antonioni will remain.
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Production Company
Amblin Entertainment,
Amblin Partners,
Reliance Entertainment,
Universal Pictures
Release Date Nov 11, 2022
Duration 2 h 31 m
Rating PG-13
Genres
Tagline Capture every moment.
Website
https://www.thefabelmans.movie/
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 7 Nominations
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations
Washington DC Area Film Critics Association Awards
• 1 Win & 11 Nominations