ADAM BALCAZAR
I must first preface this review for Steve Jobs’ first posthumous biopic by declaring I own not a single apple device. That being said, I was always in awe of Steve Jobs and was interested to see how Ashton Kutcher portrayed the magnanimous CEO and innovator.
Ashton Kutcher delivers a surprisingly deft performance as Jobs here. I think his acting reputation suffers greatly from his days as a goofus on That 70’s Show and other slapstick comedies over the years. However Kutcher can act, and demonstrates it in jOBS. He is helped by the fact that he does resemble the Apple founder and he even does a remarkable job portraying the signature Steve Jobs gait which becomes more pronounced as he neared middle age. He falls even more into the role as the make-up team gives him the signature receding hairline Jobs had his second go around at Apple.
Where Jobs falls flat is it feels really rushed. For such a large life story, I am amazed at how much they omit or gloss over in this one. This is especially true when it comes to Jobs’ personal life. They touch briefly on his time at Atari and college in the first 15 minutes and then it just flies into a frenzy of dialogue and character introductions. At one point we jump from 1985 when Jobs was ousted from Apple to his return to the company in 1995. In that time frame we go from a egomaniacal quirky version of Jobs to a peaceful family orientated complacent suburbanite version, without adequate explanation or exposition. I felt that could’ve been touched on more. The meat of the plot is primarily focused on the development of the Apple II and the Macintosh, and infighting within Apple’s corporate structure in the early 80’s. I would even say there isn’t too much content in regards to the actual Apple products that changed the computing world forever. The writers picked a lane on this one for sure; Steve Jobs was really smart and loud but he was a bit of an asshole too. And that’s it.
The film is cast well and all the main players do the best they can with a mediocre script. Josh Gad is lovable and funny as Steve Wozniak and Dermot Mulroney has his moments as Mike Markkula, Apples initial angel investor. A tip of the cap to Kutcher for a vivid portrayal and then let’s just forget about this one. Aaron Sorkin is adapting Walter Isaacson’s biography on Jobs--let’s be honest--we know that one is worth waiting for.
I must first preface this review for Steve Jobs’ first posthumous biopic by declaring I own not a single apple device. That being said, I was always in awe of Steve Jobs and was interested to see how Ashton Kutcher portrayed the magnanimous CEO and innovator.
Ashton Kutcher delivers a surprisingly deft performance as Jobs here. I think his acting reputation suffers greatly from his days as a goofus on That 70’s Show and other slapstick comedies over the years. However Kutcher can act, and demonstrates it in jOBS. He is helped by the fact that he does resemble the Apple founder and he even does a remarkable job portraying the signature Steve Jobs gait which becomes more pronounced as he neared middle age. He falls even more into the role as the make-up team gives him the signature receding hairline Jobs had his second go around at Apple.
Where Jobs falls flat is it feels really rushed. For such a large life story, I am amazed at how much they omit or gloss over in this one. This is especially true when it comes to Jobs’ personal life. They touch briefly on his time at Atari and college in the first 15 minutes and then it just flies into a frenzy of dialogue and character introductions. At one point we jump from 1985 when Jobs was ousted from Apple to his return to the company in 1995. In that time frame we go from a egomaniacal quirky version of Jobs to a peaceful family orientated complacent suburbanite version, without adequate explanation or exposition. I felt that could’ve been touched on more. The meat of the plot is primarily focused on the development of the Apple II and the Macintosh, and infighting within Apple’s corporate structure in the early 80’s. I would even say there isn’t too much content in regards to the actual Apple products that changed the computing world forever. The writers picked a lane on this one for sure; Steve Jobs was really smart and loud but he was a bit of an asshole too. And that’s it.
The film is cast well and all the main players do the best they can with a mediocre script. Josh Gad is lovable and funny as Steve Wozniak and Dermot Mulroney has his moments as Mike Markkula, Apples initial angel investor. A tip of the cap to Kutcher for a vivid portrayal and then let’s just forget about this one. Aaron Sorkin is adapting Walter Isaacson’s biography on Jobs--let’s be honest--we know that one is worth waiting for.
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