Jobs - My Review

Jobs  -  2013  -  Directed by Joshua Michael Stern

I admire greatness. Whether it be Michael Jordan on a basketball court, Tiger Woods on a Golf course, Lennon/McCartney with a pen or Steve Jobs with a vision. Its unfortunate however that the creators of this film don't share my sentiment.

Ashton Kutcher stars as Ashton Kutcher playing Steve Jobs. It is an awful performance. Kutcher wants us to see him playing Jobs rather than being him. He walks with a hunch and acts as if that alone is method acting. He doesn't convey any of the qualities that lead this man to be viewed as one of the most important figures of the last century.

We first meet Jobs in the 70's as he struggles to find his way and his meaning in life. He meets Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) and together they form a new company, Apple Computer. We see their struggles as they fill the first order of motherboards in a makeshift assembly line in Jobs' father's garage.

Their fortunes change when they meet Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney.) He is a money man who believes in the vision of Jobs and agrees to invest in Apple. The film then skips ahead as we see the new large scale headquarters of Apple and meet many of the employees, most notably Rod Holt (Ron Eldard) and Daniel Kottke (Lukas Haas.)

This might be Apple Computer but it might as well be Steve Jobs Computer. Jobs is portrayed as a vile, mean spirited, no holds barred disciplinarian who is never satisfied. After a few minutes of this I began to wonder what made the filmmakers decide to make this movie? When Jobs finds out he is a father he turns his back on the woman and the child in particularly awful fashion. You would think the director and screenwriter despise him, and maybe they do. But many many people didn't and we don't see that side here.

Apple may have made its name in the 80's and 90's with the Mac but if you asked anyone now to play word association with Apple I am almost positive 9 out of 10 people, upon hearing the word Apple, would immediately say iPod, iPhone or iPad. So how is it then that the words iPhone and iPad are NEVER mentioned and iPod is only mentioned once in this film? It's like going to a museum to see the works of Leonardo da Vinci and not being shown the Mona Lisa.

Steve Jobs was a visionary and creative genius of quite possibly the biggest turnaround in business history. He didn't change the rules, he changed the game. He deserves better than this.

Rating: 3 out of 10