After the detailed book on Steve Jobs, the movie portraying the life of the tech genius has finally hit the theaters. Ashton Kutcher has played the part of Jobs in the movie. However, so far, the movie has received mixed reviews and Kutcher’s performance is getting a lot of heat.
The key issue that many movie critics have raised about the film is that rather than focusing on the life of the maestro, the film has its focus on trivialities. For instance, the drudgery of the routine of Jobs’ employees earlier in his life is shown whereas not many details were dug about Jobs himself.
Jobs has been called many things over the years. Some deem him a genius whereas others flag him a dictator – but all agree that he was a very private man, and an eccentric one at that. However, the direction of the film is such that the reasons behind his iron-will to guard his privacy are not explored.
The overall reception of the movie can be gauged from the fact that Rotten Tomatoes has handed it a score of 25 out of 100. New York Times, too, has published a scathing review of the movie, particularly cauterizing Kutcher’s role in the movie.
The review reads thus:
“But Mr. Kutcher doesn’t have the tools that some actors use to transcend weak material and either he didn’t receive any help or didn’t allow any real direction from Mr. Stern. Mr. Kutcher’s tendency to cap so many emotional scenes with small, self-satisfied smiles is especially unfortunate because they can’t help but bring to mind his other career as a pitchman for digital cameras.
The greater blame rests on the filmmakers, who never find a way to navigate the “passions, perfectionism, demons, desires, artistry, devilry and obsession for control” that Walter Isaacson enumerated in “Steve Jobs,” his 2011 authorized biography.”
In all, it does seem that the movie is a rather poor adaptation of the man who has affected hundreds of millions of people and who has inspired as many.
Source: NYT
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