Steve Jobs
No one should watch this movie because they want an accurate biography of Jobs or a history of Apple. For example, Steve Wozniak is still working at Apple in 1998 in the film despite actually leaving Apple in 1985 before Steve Jobs. The film does not adhere to history, but it doesn’t have to. First and foremost, it has to work as a narrative, and if some facts have to be fudged, so be it. If anyone wants to read about Jobs, there are several unauthorized biographies as well as Walter Isaacson’s official biography.
The reason to watch “Steve Jobs” is Aaron Sorkin’s excellent dialog which is effective, no line feels wasted. Sorkin also eschews a traditional biopic with a three-act structure that follows Jobs through three product launches: Macintosh, NeXT, and iMac. It works better than I thought it would when I first read about it.
The pacing is really solid here with a great arc for Jobs the character by sacrificing adherence to Jobs the person. The movie never addresses a lot of Job’s life: Pixar, his marriage, pancreatic cancer etc. The result works really well for a two-hour movie. Sorkin sets up conflict early and addresses each one which ultimately builds up to real growth by the end. Jobs the character and John Sculley the character make amends and get catharsis that they never got in real life. In the film, this is a precursor to Jobs and his daughter, Lisa, making amends. Sorkin uses these relationships to explain what even Isaacson’s biography didn’t really do: something changed for Jobs the person after his resignation from Apple in 1985 and return in 1997. Maybe it was humble pie or the mere passage of time. Whatever happened personally between his failed coup and becoming arguably the greatest CEO in history is never really explored in depth in Isaacson’s biography. “Steve Jobs” the film ties that personal growth to specific people, and it works really well from a narrative perspective.
The acting here is also especially strong. There isn’t a weak link in the cast. Seth Rogen is surprisingly good at drama. I feel like Kate Winslet is underrated though maybe I just don’t pay enough attention that stuff. Credit again to Sorkin for writing Joanna Hoffman’s most important scene in broken English while still making sense, and Winslet for pulling it off. Michael Fassbender may look nothing like Steve Jobs but does excellent work here. Jeff Daniels is just good in everything.
The seven minute scene between Jobs and Sculley before the NeXT launch features some really great editing. It’s probably the best scene in the film followed closely by the exchanges between Jobs and Wozniak during the NeXT and iMac launches. Rogen has some of the best lines which says a lot for a film full of great lines. My favorite is, “It’s not binary. You can be decent and gifted at the same time,” which sums up the theme fairly well. It’s a shame this movie bombed when it was released. I only just got around to watching it so I’m part of the problem.