REVIEW ROUND-UP: jOBS – Kutcher's take on Apple icon Steve Jobs' life gets panned
Could this ever have possibly ended well? When Ashton Kutcher was first cast as Apple visionary Steve Jobs for the silver screen biopic jOBS, the choice was met with almost universal skepticism. Now, on the eve of the movie’s general release, a raft of critic reviews have painted the movie as, at best, mediocre. Rather than following in the footsteps of recent successful biopics such as Lincoln or Behind the Candelabra, jOBS is being described as closer to something akin to “Dude, Where’s My iPod?”.
Sitting currently at a Metacritic score of 42 out of 100 (based on 28 critic scores) the general apathy towards the film is best summed up by the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Steven Rea, describing jOBS as “a just-the-facts – and fiddling-with-the-facts – dramatization, forgoing any kind of deeper psychological exploration of the man and his motivations, his demons and dreams.”
The New York Daily News’s Joe Neumaier was more forgiving, calling the movie “entertaining and smart, with a great, career 2.0 performance from Ashton Kutcher.”
By far the most damning review comes from Slant Magazine’s R. Kurt Osenlund, who awards the movie zero-stars. “Steered by a lead actor and director, Joshua Michael Stern, who are both way out of their respective leagues, Jobs is excruciating, failing to entertain and all but pissing on its subject’s grave,” reads the critique.
A last-resort Netflix view at best then, it would appear wise to avoid the jOBS cinema release and catch it on DVD instead, or better still, pick up Walter Isaacsson’s biography.
jOBS goes on general release across the US on August 16. The movie currently does not have a UK release date.
