There are certain writers who bring a real piece of themselves to their writing. Only a select few writers can you go into a film blindly and be able to tell they wrote it just by the way the character's speak. The Coen Brothers are one. My favorite screenwriter Shane Black is another. But, probably the most distinct writer, especially of dialogue, is Aaron Sorkin. You can smell a Sorkin script a million miles away. He's got a way of making his characters speak that sound almost nothing like the way normal humans speak to one another, but is so overtly compelling and almost musical. It's fast paced, it's quippy, it's brilliant, and it's like careening down a river on your back screaming for your life, but enjoying the ride just the same. The only problem, if there is a problem, with this is that most of the characters wind up sounding exactly the same differentiated only by the actors that play each one. The most catastrophic of this is Sorkin's show The Newsroom that had a great first season, but got just a bit too preachy and Sorkin-y by its second. The best of Sorkin comes in his work with The West Wing, The Social Network, Moneyball and even Charlie Wilson's War. While it seems like every Sorkin script gets more and more Sorkin-y, Steve Jobs takes it back down to a manageable level that adds to the appeal of the film and even humanizes one of the film's least likable characters.
Let's just put this out there right now: Steve Jobs was an asshole. Like, a really big asshole. Like, there comes a point where it doesn't really matter what he's accomplished in the technical world, he's just such an asshole that you may or may not stop caring. He's a self-centered, egotistical, manipulative asshole that probably didn't deserve this film which, and I'm only assuming, went a little kinder with his character than he actually was in life. But... what he did accomplish, and the legacy he leaves behind, it is remarkable what the man did. The film is divided into three acts set during three separate years of his life (1984, 1988, and 1998) in the same auditorium during three key product launches of Jobs' life. Everything is set before he walks out on stage, but he deals with four major people before each speech. The first he encounters is his marketing exec (Kate Winslet) trying to keep Jobs together and away from total egotistical breakdown. The next is his ex-wife trying to convince Jobs that he's fathered a daughter, even though he doubts the paternity test that's said he's a 94% of being the father. The third is his college partner Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) with whom he's had a falling out. And the fourth is CEO John Scully... a man he has a different history with during each act of the film. And that's all it is. We get essentially the entire life and history of Steve Jobs within three forty minute segments of his life.
The movie is constructed much like a stage play (which it could easily be turned into) where not much happens in the world of compelling action, but everything is dished out through quick dialogue. This type of format is a Sorkin wet dream. But, it's extremely effective. There are no lulls in the story, there is no heightened awareness that nothing visually of consequence is happening on screen and we're simply watching people talk to one another. But, it's always compelling and never boring. There is, however, this juggling act in the mind of the viewer bouncing back and forth between being impressed with everything Jobs did in his career - from actual impressive invention to a ballsy as hell bluff that paid off - to digesting the fact that he truly is an asshole. There isn't a single person in the film, with the exception of perhaps Kate Winslet's character, and a few minor instances with his daughter, that isn't treated like they are far below Jobs' boot heel. He's a mess... but he's also a genius.
Obviously, the one thing that goes along with a Sorkin script are the impressive actors that play out that script. Fassbender is fantastic, so much so that Ashton Kutcher couldn't hold his ball sweat. Kate Winslet, Jeff Daniels, and even Michael Stuhlberg are, as per usual, their ever wonderful selves. But, it's the performance of Seth Rogen that stood out to me. In the history of Rogen as an actor, we've grown to know him and love him... but to also expect just one thing from him. He's not exactly a multi-dimensional actor. He's been a one note pony... but that note is good enough to carry him from film to film. (I never saw Take This Waltz, so let's assume he's the same in that if he isn't). However, Aaron Sorkin gave the man another dimension, another note. He just did for Rogen what he did for Jonah Hill in Moneyball. I didn't see Seth Rogen in the film. I saw Steve Wozniak. The way he speaks, his mannerisms, even his laugh wasn't typical Rogen fare. He deserves just as much praise, if not more so, than Fassbender who, once again, turned in an Oscar-worthy performance.
Steve Jobs is a very good movie. It's melodic, but frenetic. It's compelling, yet slow. It's an anomaly in film because if you sit back and think hard about the man, you realize that you're literally just watching a very intelligent and successful asshole. But, thanks to Sorkin's structure and script, along with Danny Boyle's beautiful direction, we've been given another level to Steve Jobs that may or may not have actually existed.
A
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