Steve Jobs was a bit of an asshole. I'm guessing that is the spirit of the message that this movie is trying to get across. They hit this point many, many times, and it is hit pretty hard.
I was certain that Ashton was going to screw it up. As it turns out, the storytelling was its own worst enemy. Ashton lost weight, changed his cadence, and altered his walk and stance to fit into the role. Some argued that he was so into the role that he remained in character for extended periods between shots, before filming, and after filming. In fact, Woz was asked what he thought of the movie, and he was not fond of it. Ashton said some unpleasant things about Woz, and Woz very kindly said that Ashton must still have been in character.
Josh Gad played Woz in this movie, and he did a pretty good job. I think the main problem is that the character was written to the archetype of a nerd with no social skills. That just isn't Woz. Everything I've read about Woz and every interview or bit that I've seen of him says that he's actually probably a pretty good guy to hang around with. He's funny, somewhat outgoing, and relates to other people really well. I don't know why he was written this way.
Dermot Mulroney plays the guy who would be called an angel investor today. he give Apple Computer a big influx of cash to start with, and he rides the wave of success in. His loyalty is tested at times, but Jobs' lack of loyalty is demonstrated many times in this movie, and someone showing disloyalty to him really doesn't seem to have all that much of an impact.
This movie doesn't cover a lot of what you think it will cover. It starts with the iPod being introduced, and then it jumps back in time to when Jobs had graduated and was still bumming around the college. It never actually gets back to the time of the iPod; it certainly doesn't hit his illness and subsequent death.
Further, there was over a decade between Steve being ousted at Apple and him coming back that is just not covered. In that ten years, they ignore everything Next did (and how that changed the future of Apple) and they went from Jobs steadfastly refusing to recognize Lisa as his daughter to her living with him. The contentious relationship between Steve and Lisa's mother was never resolved, and it is completely unclear why there was a change of heart.
Acting was very good
Story was weak
Direction was bad
Cinematography was pretty good
1.75/5