Cast: Michael Fassbender plays the titular Jobs. Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterson, and a few young actresses with names I don't remember play the different recurring forces in Jobs' life.
Plot: This follows Steve Jobs on the days of three different product launches (in 1984, 1988, and 1998) and everything he is going through at those different times, professionally and personally.
Thoughts:
What immediately struck me about this is that three act structure. The movie is evenly divided between Jobs before the Macintosh launch in '84, the NeXTcube launch in '88, and the iMac launch in '98. These were all very different moments in Jobs' life and really do make a good story arc: the promise of the Mac, the frustration of the NeXT cube, and the success of the iMac.
It's a very talk-y movie (no surise with an Aaron Sorkin script). This script could be a play just as easily as a movie. The action is just a series of conversations Jobs has with a collection of people who all represent different aspects of his life. Kate Winslet is his closest confidant. Jeff Daniels is the explicitly stated Father figure. Seth Rogen is the former partner. Michael Stuhlbarg is the put upon underling. Katherine Waterson is the mother of his child. A series of young actresses play his daughter. Except Waterson, they all show up in each of the three parts. All of them are there to get different things out of him and they tie together in interesting ways. The performances by everyone are solid. Only Seth Rogen felt even remotely like an impersonation. In that case, that's just because Steve Wozniak is fairly well known and such a weird guy that it's hard to play him naturally. Fassbender hold is all together with his fascinating and frustrating Steve Jobs.
This is incredibly reminiscent to The Social Network. The style is different since this is Danny Boyle instead of David Fincher, but it's clear that Sorkin wrote both of these while in the same head space. It's the story of how being a great man is at odds with being a good man. There's not much hero worship in this, and it doesn't ignore any of Jobs' flaws. He's a perfectionist, an egomaniac, and altogether awful to those around him. The story is ultimately pro-Steve Jobs though, taking a sort of "ends justify the means" look at everything.
Elephant in the Room: How accurate is it? I know the beats of this story pretty well, but not perfectly, so I can't break down the details of it. The structure is absolutely inaccurate. Obviously, Jobs didn't have all these important conversations directly leading up to three thematically connected events. This isn't meant to be all facts though. It's as much The Divine Comedy as it is historical document. The spirit of the thing is there and that's all it needs.
To Sum Things Up:
I found the movie interesting more than entertaining. Michael Fassbender gives a great performance, as do most of the cast. The movie left me wanting more though.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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