Honestly the Ashton Kutcher version that came out a few years ago was a more than sufficient tribute to this guy as they were both nerds who started out spending way too much time in their garages (Kutcher- smoking in That 70’s Show, Jobs-building computers that nobody wanted) and both wound up surprising everyone by getting rich from producing time wasting devices that the world would probably be better off without (Kutcher- Punked, Jobs- a device that allows you access to Snapchat).
Now I will admit that I am being a bit of a hypocrite here as I spend countless hours on my iPhone and I cannot imagine a world where I don’t basically have my entire life on a 4 lbs. device that fits in my pocket. But I also really love Round Rock donuts; I don’t see them making a biopic on its creator? To me donuts are just as life changing as iTunes was!
Anyway, Hollywood finally put together an A team to produce a film that will hopefully satisfy the public’s need to say goodbye to this innovator. They brought in the industry’s best writer in Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men) and the well respected and talented director in Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) to give their unique perspective on his life.
The story revolves around three of his biggest product launches: The Macintosh, the Next Cube, and the iMac. And as he is preparing for each launch, he has to deal with all of the broken relationships he’s accumulated in his life to that point. You see how he has an utter lack of respect for the man that most people in the industry credit for being the real brains behind Apple, Steve Wozniak, his father figure/mentor in John Sculley, and his former coder Andy Hertzfeld. But the one that’s the most heartbreaking is the relationship with his daughter Lisa.
You see early on from the way he treats his relationship with his ex-girlfriend and their daughter as a Billie Jean situation that he is an intolerable and self-centered jackass who mows down anyone who gets in his way. So it makes it hard to laugh with or connect with him in any way when he’s spouting off Sorkin’s snappy dialogue. You instead immediately view him as the antagonist in the story and you feel guilty for updating your status on his product midway through the film. Now coming from a corporate environment, this behavior really wasn’t all that shocking to me, but most people will probably be taken aback by his personality. But in reality, I guess none of us should really be surprised by the fact that nerds are just socially awkward beings that are simply walking among us like the zombies you find in Boyle’s 28 Days Later.
Well thankfully Sorkin has a proven track record for making us care about these nerds (The Social Network) and Boyle has the ability to make us pay attention to random scrubs who are sitting on a rock for 5 day while drinking their own pee (127 Hours). So needless to say, you can’t help but be entertained while watching this movie.
And while I did like this film, I must admit that the best part of it was the fact that for the first half of the movie, Kate Winslet actually looked like Meryl Streep for some reason. I suggest you see the overrated but well-made Steve Hand Jobs in the theater before Oscar season arrives. I give it a rating of FRESH.
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