First Steve Jobs film is here ... but is it too NICE to Apple's cranky boss?
A film about the early life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, with Ashton Kutcher in the title role, opened on Friday at the Sundance Film Festival - to mixed reviews.
Some critics said it presentsed a fawning, one-sided portrait of the late tech icon, CNN reported.
Th film "jOBS" dramatises highlights of Jobs' life, from his formative months at Reed College to the 1984 debut of the Macintosh to the triumphant unveiling of the iPod in 2001.
Josh Gad plays Jobs's business partner Steve Wozniak.
The film focuses on Jobs' role in pioneering the personal computer.
"Over and over again, minor characters explain to him why something can't be done; Kutcher-as-Jobs smiles enigmatically and waves away their concerns," writes Casey Newton for CNET.
" Co-workers argue with him, but they never get anywhere, because their parts are poorly written and the filmmakers have no interest in showing their subject being wrong about his work," said Newton .
"All Apple failures in 'jOBS' are portrayed as the result of conservative, backward-thinking executives beholden only to their shareholders."
Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web was more supportive. "There will be those who will attack the accuracy of the film, and there are plenty of chances to do so. Significant swaths of technical development of the Macintosh and Lisa computers are simply not present," he writes.
"But, overall, 'jOBS' works. As an impressionist portrait of a specific period in his life, it's successful."
Kutcher's performance is however praised.
"He throws himself into the role, inhabiting Jobs in his mannerisms and gestures while doing a more than creditable impression of the man's voice. Kutcher also captures Jobs' deliberate, slightly hunched-over walk," writes Newton.
Steve Jobs died in October 2011 after a long battle with cancer.
"jOBS" is scheduled to open in US cinemas on April 19.
Meanwhile, another film about Jobs' life,written by Aaron Sorkin ("The Social Network") and based on Walter Isaacson's best-selling biography is under way. And this is expected to be the biggie.