When it came to a biopic movie of Steve Jobs’ career, I would not have immediately jumped to the idea of a parody comedy done by Funny or Die. Coinciding with this I would not have thought Funny or Die’s first feature length movie to cover such a, what could have been, serious topic. However, creator Ryan Perez decided to write and produce this ambitious production and do it in no less than five days, a risky deed amidst the two other supposedly more accurate Jobs productions currently in the pipeline.
Calling this movie a documentary would be a loose mistake; even with no real background knowledge of Steve Jobs myself, I was still very aware of the fanciful nature of the story. Upon research it seems that there are some factual snippets such as the release date of the Macintosh, the hiring of John Sculley and the development of the Apple 11 (although in reality Jobs was probably not finding his inspiration from acid tabs retrieved from Asia). In between these connections to the truth, Perez weaved into it a rather comical, rather hilariously typical plot line with clichés such as Job’s downfall from the villain Sculley, his fight back to the top amongst an intertwined love story, his mentor George Lucas and the many amusing and, quite obviously, computer based montage scenes. The blatant mockery of such against-the-odds style films is reminiscent of the stupid humor found in likewise parodies such as Airplane and Walk Hard, which could, combined with the universal appreciation for Steve Jobs and the Apple line, be the reason for the release generating such mixed reviews.
Latter to the extended release date, the movie received some harsh criticisms relating to the silly humor and inaccuracy of the plot, as well as the shoddy and rushed production. One of the harshest of all being the review in Wired magazine, describing the movie as “profoundly unfunny” and going on to say, “this movie is worse in every way than a sidewalk dentist in Bangkok sans anesthesia.” A little harsh some may say, and also probably coming from someone who was expecting a factual or even a more mature account of Jobs’ life. The problem for critics seems to be the context of the movie more than the actual entertainment value. For many it was a disdain and almost an insult to the late and universally admired Steve Jobs and the imprecision of facts and lighthearted humor made many viewers angry. However, coming from a person who watched the film without such a setting, I think it was pretty enjoyable, not to mention impressive for the amount of time is took Perez to compose. What’s important not to forget is that this is essentially an extended tape from the website Funny or Die; it’s not meant to be an epic production but more of a buoyant take on what could be a rather dismal subject.
So let’s talk about the more funny moments such as the fight scene between “good friends” Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, preceding the cleverly orchestrated Mac and PC adverts that originally featured actor Justin Long, who is in the film playing Jobs himself. Along with the virtual reality sex sketch and the various Apple Acid montages, moments like these in fact reminded me of the silliness in more recent South Park episodes, which is never a bad thing.
Although many critics felt strongly adverse to the impreciseness of iSteve, I amongst others found it to be an entertaining watch, which I was not expecting. It’s trivial, it’s rushed and maybe it’s not ideal for hardcore Jobs fans but taken out of context or with a pinch of iSalt, it is an engaging and funny look at the life of the creator of Apple.
