REVIEW: Steve Jobs

Courtesy of Universal

The latest attempt to examine the tech icon’s life (following 2013’s Ashton Kutcher drama and a recent documentary from Alex Gibney) isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s certainly an intriguing form of adaptation. In tackling Walter Isaacson’s massive tome, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin eschews the typical biopic formula and instead focuses on the backstage drama surrounding three of Jobs’ famed product launches.

That basic description – a handful of people talking in rooms for two hours – might seem dreadfully boring to some viewers, especially if they’re not interested in computers. But Sorkin’s legendary gift for rapid-fire dialogue means Steve Jobs is equally gripping, hilarious and infuriating. Plus, the unusual framing device fills in all the vital background info while also providing a creative jolt to the traditional “troubled genius” narrative.

Michael Fassbender (a lock for a Best Actor nomination, barring some weird fluke) plays Apple founder Jobs as a narcissistic authoritarian who is well aware of his importance and the followers who revere him. He’s a computer guy, sure, but he’ll also be the first to tell you he’s a passionate artist with unwavering standards.

That means he makes life hell for most of his collaborators, including the long-suffering Steve Wozniak and Andy Hertzfeld (Seth Rogen and Michael Stuhlbarg, both terrific). The only person who seems to be able to corral his massive ego and unpredictable mood swings is Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet, stellar aside from a curiously fluctuating Eastern European accent), who another character anachronistically refers to as the “Steve whisperer.”

Over the course of the highly dramatized film, Sorkin makes the argument that the 1984 unveiling of the Macintosh, the 1988 “launch” of NeXT (explaining those quotation marks would be a spoiler to the uninformed like myself), and the 1998 groundbreaking reveal of the iMac proved essential to Jobs’ career and reputation, cementing the innovator’s near-messianic standing in the tech world.

Director Danny Boyle adds visual flair by shooting each third in a different format – 16 mm, 35 mm and digital – to highlight the change of time and technology, but his style is so passive that Sorkin overpowers him to become the film’s authorial voice. I can’t help but wonder what the finished product would’ve looked like if he’d reteamed with David Fincher, his collaborator on The Social Network, as originally planned. They almost definitely would’ve complemented each other’s strengths and weaknesses a bit more.

In any case, it helps that Sorkin has such commanding actors to give voice to his dialogue. In addition to the great work from Fassbender (whose resemblance to Jobs in the final third is uncanny), Winslet, Rogen and Stuhlbarg, the film also features excellent performances from Jeff Daniels (as Apple CEO John Scully) and Katherine Waterston (as Jobs’ ex-girlfriend Chrisann Brennan), as well as Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine (who play Jobs’ daughter, Lisa, at ages 5, 9 and 19).

Steve Jobs won’t do much to change the opinions of Sorkin’s detractors – the movie doesn’t exactly resolve his longstanding, complex issues with female characters, for instance – but his fans will find plenty to love. He’s unquestionably a part of the Best Adapted Screenplay conversation, and he might even emerge with another win. The industry is filled with admirers of both Sorkin and Jobs; after all, the two men share many of the same character traits.

Steve Jobs is rated R for language.

Grade: B+