Jobs: Movie Review

Jobs: Movie Review

Cast: Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney, Josh Gad, Matthew Modine, JK Simmons, Lukas Haas
Director: Joshua Michael Stern

So, the first Steve Jobs cab off the rank is this biopic, which will no doubt be forgotten once West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin's version hits the cinema.

Kutcher plays Jobs in this film which starts with the unveiling of the iPod in 2001 and scoots back to the college years and Jobs' first foray into the world of computers, before his eventual getting chucked from Apple and re-instating as the messiah of the electronics world.

And that's really all that happens in this piece, which proffers up little insight into what inspired or drove the man, both on a professional and personal level. Prone to outbursts which seem rude and abrasive when it came to his colleagues, I'm guessing it was his vision, passion and drive which led him to these explosions. I say guessing because there's little evidence on screen or hints over what fuelled this fire at all.

In fact, there's scant passion in any of this formulaic and dull biopic, which fails to come even close to revealing Jobs' motivation. You're more likely to learn about the inner workings of the Apple company, the fight between Apple and IBM, the boardroom politics and corporate manoeuvring  than anything else in this sketchy piece. It also skates over his appalling treatment of his daughter and completely ignores his health issues and subsequent death, which you could argue were vital to the man.

Kutcher initially appears to personify Jobs and has his physicality down to a tee, but that's about all. There's nothing inherently wrong with the performance, (even if it does simply lapse into wistful lip pursing and staring) but it just fails to be engaging at all thanks to lacklustre source material. Even Jobs' colleagues, and long term collaborator Steve Wozniak have little insight into their relationships which appear to have lasted years.

Stern prefers to save his direction for copious over-use of musical montages and swirling camera shots which start to really grate as the two hours drag on.

Formulaic and forgettable, this first Jobs biopic barely scratches the surface of the man and it certainly doesn't inspire on any level. It's nowhere near a definitive piece or peek at the man and feels like a slightly dull volume one of a novel.

Here's hoping Sorkin's effort fares a little better.

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