Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine’s review published on Letterboxd:
Action!: The Caps Of Mr. Spielberg
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The David Lynch cameo! Glad to see Spielberg acknowledge him as one of the best directors out there!
I haven't had much interest in seeing Spielberg's semi-biopic since it was first announced. In part, I thought the entire background and story intriguing, and I could see how Steven's innate whimsy was suitable for this type of film. In fact, the director employs all of the sentimentality at his disposal, which serves as both a strength and a weakness. When it works, it's fantastic and warms your heart. But when it doesn't, you end up making me miserable and my mum snore. Much of the first half of the movie was like the latter, with lots of meandering and little sense of plot or purpose. Some of them came dangerously close to being masturbatory, and believe me when I say that seeing any form of masturbation with your mother around is not a funny.
Nonetheless, the second half, when Tony and Steve decide to tell a story, is generally engaging, full of nice moments, and even humorous, if clunky in places like the whole bully thing (am I the only one who thought that was going to be a gay moment or something?).
The performances are generally good, though Williams and whatever she was doing didn't work for me and quickly got on my nerves. Dano was fairly competent, but was hardly given any opportunities to shine. Hirsch was there. Rogen was cool, and he played the "cool uncle" role well. It's clear that LaBelle was the show-stealer; he excelled at capturing the awe, stoking the appropriate amount of drama, and delivering the majority of the awkwardly funny moments.
As far as technical aspects go, the staging was really good. The cinematography is excellent, particularly in sequences like the dancing. Everything else about the film was subpar, from the writing to John Williams' unremarkable score.
All in all, it has its good moments, and the second half is much better than the first, but I just couldn't get into it. This is Spielberg at his sappiest, and while both Close Encounter and Poltergeist have solid screenplays, the director is better off sticking to directing.
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