| iSteve | |
| Italic Title: | no |
| Director: | Ryan Perez |
| Starring: | Justin Long Jorge Garcia James Urbaniak Michaela Watkins |
| Studio: | Funny or Die |
| Runtime: | 79 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
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]
In order of appearance
As a free release on the Internet, the movie went unseen by film critics, with most public reactions coming from tech and business bloggers.[5] [6] According to Forbes, early reviews are mixed. 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."[7] Honan claims that the film has several inaccuracies but also notes that the film is a parody, which somewhat offsets that.[7] CNET reviewer Amanda Kooser also notes that the movie "cut a few corners as far as accuracy goes".[8] 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).[8] Kooser also notes that the movie had rampant anachronistic technology term usage.[8] Variety reviewer AJ Marechal notes that the movie, which was written in three days and shot in five,[3] "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".[9] 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.[9] 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."[10] Forbes reviewer noted that the scheduled April 15 release was delayed 2 days due to the Boston Marathon bombings.[11]