Movie Review: "Steve Jobs"

"Steve Jobs": B+.  Title character Steve Jobs, as played by superior actor Michael Fassbender, has to be the worst boss to appear on the silver screen since 2006 when Meryl Streep's Miranda Priestly gnashed her teeth in The Devil Wears Prada.    In a telling dialogue between Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, and a former subordinate, Jobs states that "a musician plays his instrument, whereas a conductor plays the orchestra."  Jobs sees himself as the conductor of various almost inanimate fungible minions who, were it not for his cerebral majesty, would be making widgets in a factory.

In the opening "long take" Jobs derides senior engineer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) forty minutes before the 1984 product launch of the Macintosh computer because the engineer informs Jobs that it will be impossible to enable the Mac to say "Hello" for the demonstration.  The planned showcase will be attended by a few thousand industry insiders and media members.  Pointing out to Hertzfeld that he had three days to iron out the glitches, Jobs screams, "It only took six days to create the entire universe."

 

Hertzfeld's reply: "You'll have to tell us how you did it!"

 

In the same scene, Jobs is visited by a former girlfriend, Crisann Brennan (Katherine Waterston), who alleges -- not for the first time -- that he is the father of Lisa, the darling five year old girl accompanying her.  Up to this point Jobs has vehemently denied his paternity, producing statistical data (the source of which is never explained) to support his claim that 28% of the US male population could possibly be the father.  When Brennan informs him that she is now on welfare without a place to live, Jobs turns a cold shoulder.  He eventually agrees to buy her a house, but he makes sure she cries and demeans herself first.

 

Jobs is heartless and relentless, to go along with his other dubious qualities of being bombastic and narcissistic.  On more than one occasion, including the Mac product launch, he refuses the entreaties of fellow Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) to give brief recognition to the contributions of the team that had helped make the Apple II a success.  Wozniak points out, correctly, that it was the Apple II product which paid the bills of the company over a period of seven years during which Jobs was experimenting with newer state-of-the-art designs, some of which failed.  The ungrateful Jobs offhandedly dismisses such a notion, patronizing Wozniak with the rationale that Apple II is now ancient history and would be out-of-place in a marketing campaign trumpeting Apple's future.

 

Other than Lisa, for whom Jobs slowly develops acceptance, Apple executive Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) is the only person Jobs treats decently more often than not.  She is with him on-screen during most of his rants, fully aware of his typically abhorrent behavior.  Still, she puts up with him, describing herself as his "office wife" for better or worse.  Her thick skin sustains her.  To the extent Jobs remains grounded, thanks go to Hoffman.  If she walked out the door, Jobs would act even more erratically.

 

Winslet is superb as Jobs' confidant, aware of her bounds but unafraid to call out Jobs to his face when he deserves to be (which is often).  Rogen, known mainly as a comedic actor and writer, is solid as the unappreciated Wozniak.  Versatile actor Jeff Daniels, who has taken on roles running the gamut from comedy to high drama, is perfect as John Sculley, the CEO of Apple who over the years seemed to have a love/hate relationship with Jobs.  Fassbender meets the challenge of playing the larger-than-life leading man.  He commands each scene.  We wonder, how could such an unstable volcanic personality like Jobs be a multi-billionaire running an enormously complex business?  If the real Steve Jobs' presence was similar to actor Fassbenders', by virtue of watching the film we get it.  Incidentally, the resemblance between Fassbender and Jobs in his middle-age is striking.

 

A better familiarity with Apple's history and computer gizmos in general would have been beneficial to me as far as supplying context to the unfolding story.  The more you know going in, the better the chances of reaping the most value from watching the movie.  But even without much background, one can still appreciate witnessing the destruction and sporadic rebuilding of the human relationships between Jobs and the people in his life.