From the preview, Tom (as Barry) says near the beginning "I'm Barry Seal, and some of this **** actually happened." It's a movie, not a documentary, so it's going to have inaccuracies as part of the "dramatic license".
From some of the interviews I listened to, it seemed like for the most part they had their operation working such that it was a pretty good machine that the day-to-day realities were likely less dramatic, but that would make a less interesting move. So add in some cool airplane scenes (some of which are likely based on some things that actually happened) with the basic story and some true bits, and you have something entertaining.