JOBS

It makes sense that Steve Jobs would be the subject of interest in the movies: He founded one of the biggest computer companies in the world, he gave us the iPod and iPhone, he had a fair share of controversy in his life, and his fairly recent death renewed interest in his life.  Jobs is the first movie to take on this person of so much interest.

Jobs is largely a one-person movie, as Ashton Kutcher portrays Steve Jobs (without any makeup, except for aging him from the later years).  The movie follows Jobs' life from 1974 (when he was a college dropout) to 2001 (when the iPod was introduced).  We see Steve Jobs advance from an Atari employee to the creator of Apple Computers -- and see how his relentless independence and quest for perfection could be both inspirational (as when he motivates employees) and detrimental (as he ignores his stockholders to spend endless time getting something right).

While Jobs includes several recurring characters -- Steve Wozniak (Josh Gad) as Jobs' friend and technical guru, Mike Markkula (Dermot Mulroney) as Apple's first investor -- this movie begins and ends with Kutcher -- and he delivers.  Kutcher brings full passion into bringing Steve Jobs to life, showing how he was both a revolutionary and a very flawed human being.  Jobs would have benefited more if it broadened its scope to show how Jobs was affected, positively and negatively, by the people in his personal and professional life.  But Kutcher carriers the movie well, making Jobs a good portrait of one of technology's greatest minds growing from a rebellious teen to a corporate giant.

Overall grade: B
Reviewed by James Lynch