Steve Jobs

When I first saw that there was going to be a film made about Steve Jobs, I was a bit skeptical. I was even more skeptical when I saw that Michael Fassbender was going to be portraying Steve Jobs as Fassbender looks nothing like Jobs. Then I saw that Seth Rogan was going to be portraying Steve Wozniak and that was it, I was in doubt of this movie.

Boy, could I ever have been anymore wrong. This movie is fantastic and it is because of the steady-handed direction from Danny Boyle, the sharp script from Aaron Sorkin and the standout performance from Michael Fassbender. Kate Winslet and Seth Rogan both turn in great performances also – the latter a complete surprise for me because he was so good.

The film, outside of a few flashbacks, takes place during three events: The introduction of the Macintosh, the introduction of the NeXT machine and the introduction of the iMac. All of it takes place backstage as Jobs gets ready for his presentation and is dealing with the different people in his life: The mother of his child (Katherine Waterson); the child he at first does not accept as his own, Lisa (Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo, Perla Haney-Jardine); a CEO he recruited to run Apple, John Sculley (an excellent Jeff Daniels); and a computer genius Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg). The throughline of the film is Lisa.

Danny Boyle’s direction is electric and pairing that with Aaron Sorkins quick-fire dialogue leaves the audience with barely any chance to take a breath. The movie runs about two hours long, but I never felt bored by the film. It moved very quick from beginning to end.

I want to make a special note about Seth Rogan’s performance in the film as Steve Wozniak. He brings out the humanity in Woz when compared to the almost lack of humanity in Jobs. Rogan might not have had a lot of onscreen time, but he should made the most of his time.

I really enjoyed the film Steve Jobs.