Ashton Kutcher does a great Steve Jobs impersonation. One of the only joys of watching the new, fawning biopic about the founder of Apple Computers is looking at Kutcher sleek around on his toes, or age or enrage while never losing the way he embodies Jobs’ little quirks. The problem with Jobs, though, is that character of the charismatic corporate titan rarely transcends impersonation.
The movie tries. Opening with the unveiling of the iPod before flashing back to Jobs as a shoeless young gazer, the film focuses on his rise and fall as Apple’s chief. Most of the drama is generated by the tempestuous entrepreneur’s ousting by the Apple board. That prompts some time in the wilderness before Jobs’ his eventual, triumphal return (arriving in the film at the Apple headquarters with everything but the donkey and palms). Throughout, we catch glimpses of the character’s flaws – his combative, pitiless competitiveness, his cruel dismissal of his pregnant girlfriend – but these never feel like more than dismissible flaws of a genius destined for greater things.
Unlike The Social Network, that other silicon valley tragedy, Jobs is too enamored with its subject to adequately measure the full human implications of his rise and fall. The legacy of Apple is also taken for granted. It is a infatuated biography, one that too often feels an Apple commercial. This confusion of product and personality shouldn’t be surprising. The genius of Steve Jobs, after all, was not an invention or advancing of the personal computer and the way those machines have integrated into daily life, reframing the context of human experience. Rather, Jobs’ genius is understanding that the most effective way to build a loyal customer base is to convince the consumer that the product defines or informs a sense of personal identity. It’s an impactful, and somewhat monumental achievement, and one that deserves treatment with some measure of critical distance. Unfortunately, Jobs feels too much like a movie made by filmmakers who have swallowed the Apple marketing bait hook, line, and sinker.
