First Hit: Moments were very good, but it didn’t hold up as well as the man himself did.
There are moments when there are close-ups of Ashton Kutcher’s version of Steve Jobs that he looks exactly like Jobs, but where the film fails in my book, is completeness of character.
It seemed like we were given snippets and views of Jobs but not a real cohesive story. Example: When Jobs denies being Lisa’s father, how did we get her sleeping on the couch later on? Where was the story?
We are treated to some famous Jobs’ outbursts, but where do they come from? Where were the storylines behind them and Steve’s kindness? Where was the story as to why Steve didn’t give his original workers part of the stock action? Was it selfishness?
It is the lack of real developmental continuity that hurt this film. Why did the screenwriter and director only focus on the story of the start of Apple to Jobs coming back? It might have been more interesting to include more recent events as well. Lastly, at more than 2 hours, the lack of a deeper story made the movie feel long.
Kutcher got many of Jobs mannerisms down well. In fact some of the close-ups showed Kutcher did his homework regarding how Steve looked and walked. Dermot Mulroney as Mike Markkula was good at being the person who supported Steve from the beginning but turning against him later on. Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak was superb and was clearly the best actor in the film in their role. Matthew Modine as John Scully was OK, but again there seem to be a lack luster level of interest or “drama” to make it engaging. Lastly, where were the women in this film? Matt Whiteley wrote a weak script which focused on some less interesting aspects of Jobs’ life. Joshua Michael Stern seemed to lack direction and didn’t have a clear vision of what the point of this film was to be.
Overall: As much as I wanted to see this film, was the same level it disappointed me.