ISteve

iSteve
iSteve
Directed by	Ryan Perez
Written by	Ryan Perez
Starring	Justin Long; Jorge Garcia; James Urbaniak; Michaela Watkins
Production; company	Funny or Die
Distributed by	Funny or Die
Release date	April 17, 2013;
Running time	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]^[5]

Cast

In order of appearance

Crew

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

As 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]