I know this is probably not that respectful, but I've kind of quit caring about what people "close to Steve" say about the adaptations.
Steve himself and Laurene endorsed Walter Isaacson's biography. Tim and Jony, among his other coworkers at Apple, said it was completely inaccurate. Woz said it simply repeated things people already knew.
Tim and Jony endorsed Brent Schlender's biography. Laurene and Lisa wouldn't talk to him about it.
Woz and Lisa endorsed this movie. Tim says it's opportunistic.
No one endorsed the Kutcher movie.
Understandably, I think these people want to remember Steve the way they want, not how books or Hollywood say. And funny enough, the versions the people who were actually there endorse are the parts that they were there for. Tim and Jony weren't there when Steve was originally at Apple, but were happy to buddy up with Schlender because he painted a nicer picture of their friend toward the end of his life, when they worked with him. Laurene seemed to see more of a balance in her husband, which is probably why she liked Isaacson's biography, and that book is, in my opinion, about as objective as you can get in regards to his life. Woz remembers Jobs being a jerk when they were first at Apple, and said that the actors all nailed their parts (of people he knew, remember), so he thinks they should point that out. Lisa, understandably, didn't want to talk about Steve while he was alive, because they clearly had a pretty rocky relationship. She probably felt a movie that didn't ignore how deeply flawed he was, like when he denied paternity of her, was a more accurate portrayal of him.
I've liked all of these versions of the story (except the Kutcher movie, which was shameless hero worship at its worst). I think Steve was a fascinating person. The above is just my guess at why people around him are acting this way, but it's not that difficult to pick out why some people would remember him differently from others. Isaacson got the most accurate history of his life; Schlender focused on the good while barely mentioning the bad, but had a valuable point in saying that Jobs changed drastically from his first time at Apple to his second; and this movie, while not historically accurate, did seem to get the people right from what I've read about them. I respect that it didn't shy away from making Jobs emotional or from showing how he would humiliate people in front of others. Also, it was a really engaging, intense movie.
I don't think it's disrespectful to make these adaptations. Even the ones that are the most harsh lean toward him being a good person by and large. I think this movie is probably struggling because 1. It's rated R, which could've been avoided by skipping the F bombs a few times, 2. It kind of came out at a weird time... October 23, while people are busy not spending money so they can save for the holidays? and 3. Tim Cook not endorsing it, for people keeping up (mainly Apple fans), means Apple doesn't endorse it, which probably made them decide against seeing it.
I think people will come around to it when they notice it winning awards and word of mouth gets out that it's a good movie, which I think it was. I think some of its plot points didn't need to fly in the face of reality quite as much as they did though (yeah, there's no way Steve made NeXT fail on purpose so he could get Apple to buy the company- I don't care how smart he was, he didn't have that much foresight, nor could he have predicted that Apple wouldn't get back on their feet at some point, like what Microsoft has done since Ballmer was booted out of the CEO role).
Still, it's well worth a watch. I'd check it out. Just don't go in expecting everything to be accurate.
