The acting in the movie is very good. There is a believable sadness in Dan Aykroyd's character which is perfectly balanced by the complete joyfulness of Vada, the main character played by Anna Chlumsky. Macaulay Culkin is in it. And he shared with Chlumsky an award from MTV in 1991 for the best kiss scene for this movie. The second love interest of Vada is played by Griffin Dunne who you may know from An American Werewolf in London. And there is a surprisingly good performance by the legendary Jamie Lee Curtis considering that her character is basically there just to be a love interest to Aykroyd's character, which stirs some drama in the film.
Joel Courtney plays the main character Joe, who is phenomenal in this film. He has a lot of dramatic scenes all of which land. I think in some way, he is even better than Elle Fanning. Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk is so good as a young director of a movie within the movie. Especially when he starts yelling swearwords at other kids. And I guess one of my favorite is Ryan Lee as Cary. A kid who likes to blow shit up and light everything on fire. And you might think that the movie has to teach him a lessor, right? No... His obsession with explosions actually comes as an aid to save the characters in a dangerous situation. I fucking love this movie. Oh and I should probably mention Gabriel Basso who plays the lead of the movie within the movie.