Director: Joshua Michael Stern
US Release Date: 16th August 2013
Running Time: 128 minutes
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Josh Gad, Dermot Mulroney, James Woods
There is a lot to say about "jOBS" the movie and unfortunately not all of it is good. The film tells the true story of Steve Jobs, who co-founded, chaired and was CEO of Apple Inc. A business entrepreuner, inventor and marketer - Jobs is credited for revolutionising the personal computer market and also was part of the development of some of the most popular technological devices that we have with us today. To tell the story of a man who is clearly one of the most inspirational men to have lived in the last 50 years is a hard task for any person and we felt that "jOBS" the film did not do him justice.
It was always going to be tough. Portraying truth in film is something that has still not been mastered - by this we mean that there are different interpretations on how truth can be portrayed on the big screen and there is a whole debate that circles around the notion. With a person like Jobs, it is sometimes easier to portray a true representation of their life because so much of it has been documented. However, this does not always mean a film that claims to be a 'biography' or claims it is based on a true story is always is 'true.' This is evident in Joshua Michael Stern's "jOBS" as reports hit the headlines about the credibility of the story after the film was released. It is unfortunate that such an awe inspiring story has this aroma around it. But this is the problem with portraying truth in film. Whose truth do you tell? Someone else's truth may be different to yours. But this is was makes film interesting.
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| Gad and Kutcher play Wozniak and Jobs respectively. |
The film for us was a difficult one. To review this film we had to separate the story that the film tells away from the film itself. This is because the story is not the film. What we mean by this is that the story is true, its inspiring and shows the life of a great man, but it is not a creation of Stern's. However, the portrayal of Job's life by Stern is and this we did not like. The film itself has the makings to be an excellent movie. First of all, you have excellent real characters - Steve Jobs and Apple Inc's co-founder Steve 'Woz' Wozniak. Although the film is based on Jobs - Wozniak features heavily due to his role in Apple and the friendship they had. The problem we found was that the film did not flow. It seemed to jump around from place to place without ever settling enough for the audience to fully understand what was going on. This meant that every time we saw Jobs, played by Ashton Kutcher, on screen, there was rarely time for him to actually connect with the other characters. There were rarely any heavy scenes of great discussion or speech that added depth that was much needed.
This was disappointing in itself but Kutcher's performance made this film not a total flop. We liked his portrayal of Jobs and found that he really worked well on screen. His display of emotions, passion and frustration shone through and were actually very pleasant to watch. It was good to see him play a more serious role compared to his usual comedic characters. Josh Gad, who played Steve Wozniak, also impressed. On the whole, the cast were the silver lining - they each gave good performances and made the film better.
If given the chance, you should definitely watch "jOBS." If you are unclear as to who Steve Jobs was or would like to know the story behind Apple, then this film does give a good account of that. The cast are pleasant to watch but do not expect to be knocked off your seat. The story line is jumpy and sometimes hard to follow but you can get a good feel for the life of Steve Jobs.
M+F Rating: 6/10
jOBS Movie Trailer
Reviewed by M+F Reviews.
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