iSteve is a 2013 American biographical parody film released on April 17, 2013[1] by producer Funny or Die,[2] marking their first full-length movie.[3] It claims to be the first biopic on the life of Steve Jobs after his death. The film stars Justin Long, who had previously starred in Apple's Get a Mac ad campaign, as Jobs and Jorge Garcia as Steve Wozniak.[4] The film was written in three days and shot in five by Ryan Perez, a former Saturday Night Live writer.[3][5]
| iSteve | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Ryan Perez |
| Written by | Ryan Perez |
| Starring | Justin Long Jorge Garcia James Urbaniak Michaela Watkins |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Funny or Die |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cast
editIn order of appearance
- Justin Long as Steve Jobs
- Jorge Garcia as Steve Wozniak
- James Urbaniak as Bill Gates
- Michaela Watkins as Melinda Gates
- Jill Donnelly as Annie Leibovitz
- Steve Tom as Jack Tramiel
- John Ross Bowie as John Sculley
- Joe Hartzler as Robert Palmer
- Charles Ingram as George Lucas
- Andrée Vermeulen as D'arcy Wretzky
- Paul Rust as Billy Corgan
- Anthony Gioe as Justin Long
- Joe Ferrell as John Hodgman
- Nick Corirossi as Dell Dude
- Kyle Mooney as Steve Jobs's Father
- Gavin Pierce as Young Steve Jobs
- Paul Walter Hauser as Pastey Jones
Crew
edit- Directed by: Ryan Perez
- Producer: Allison Hord
- Written by: Ryan Perez
- with additional material by: Danny Jelinek, Anne Rieman, Allison Hord, Charles Ingram, Nick Corirossi and Brad Schultz
Critical review
editAs a free release on the Internet, the movie went unseen by film critics, with most public reactions coming from tech and business bloggers.[6][7] According to Forbes, early reviews are mixed.[5] Wired reviewer Mat Honan stated that the movie was "profoundly unfunny" and that "If 'Funny or Die' is a promise, the crew should probably start coffin shopping."[8] Honan claims that the film has several inaccuracies but also notes that the film is a parody, which somewhat offsets that.[8] CNET reviewer Amanda Kooser also notes that the movie "cut a few corners as far as accuracy goes".[9] Kooser notes that the film succeeded, in a sense, in beating Ashton Kutcher's Jobs to market as the first Steve Jobs biopic after his death (Pirates of Silicon Valley had been produced and released in 1999, 3 years after Jobs returned to Apple).[9] Kooser also notes that the movie had rampant anachronistic technology term usage.[9] Variety reviewer AJ Marechal notes that the movie, which was written in three days and shot in five,[3][5] "has its funny moments", but that it may be "too long", especially for the Funny or Die viewership.[3] The New York Times critic Brooks Barnes described the movie as a "biopic poking fun at biopics" and said that writer Ryan Perez said "In true Internet fashion, it’s not based on very thorough research — essentially a cursory look at the Steve Jobs Wikipedia page".[10] Barnes also noted that the movie also bested a third Jobs movie in the works by Aaron Sorkin adapted from Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson with input from Wozniak to the market.[10] Fortune reviewer Philip Elmer-DeWitt describes the movie as " an over-long Saturday Night Live skit that never quite gets rolling", but noted it had a few things going for it.[2]
Macworld reviewers Dan Moren and Lex Friedman provided one of the few positive reviews describing the movie as a humorous Jobs biography that "...is surprisingly amusing, provided you are both a fan of Apple and of stupid comedy, and presuming you also don’t mind a little profanity sprinkled in for good measure."[11] Forbes reviewer noted that the scheduled April 15 release was delayed 2 days due to the Boston Marathon bombings.[5]
Notes
edit- ^ Erickson, Christine (April 2, 2013). "Funny or Die's Steve Jobs Biopic Releases April 15". Funny or Die. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
- ^ a b Elmer-DeWitt, Philip (April 17, 2013). "Review: Funny or Die's 'iSteve'". Fortune. Archived from the original on April 18, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Marechal, AJ (April 17, 2013). "'iSteve,' Funny or Die's First Long Form…Too Long?". Variety. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
- ^ Li, Anita (April 17, 2013). "Funny or Die's Steve Jobs Biopic 'iSteve' Debuts Online". Funny or Die. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Guglielmo, Connie (March 17, 2013). "Funny Or Die Releases Steve Jobs' Mockumentary Called 'iSteve'". Forbes. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- ^ "Sorry, no results found for "isteve"". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
- ^ "No search results found. Did you mean Steve?". Metacritic. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
- ^ a b Honan, Mat (April 17, 2013). "A Review of iSteve. Spoiler Alert: This Movie Sucks". Wired. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- ^ a b c Kooser, Amanda (April 17, 2013). "Accuracy, schmaccuracy: 'iSteve' props go hilariously wrong: The makers of satirical Steve Jobs film "iSteve" take a liberal approach to computing and Apple history". CNET. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- ^ a b Barnes, Brooks (March 17, 2013). "Funny or Die Makes a Steve Jobs Movie". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2013.
- ^ Moren, Dan and Lex Friedman (April 17, 2013). "Review: Funny or Die's iSteve will tickle Apple fans". Macworld. Retrieved April 19, 2013.