Steve

TIFF REVIEW: BY DARREN ZAKUS

October 1, 2025

2 OUT OF 5 STARS

Steve boasts a strong cast led by Cillian Murphy who once again delivers a great performance, though the screenplay holds back the film with a chaotic story that remains to surface level to become the meaningful school drama that it is always inspiring to be.

Cinema is full of unforgettable teachers who have never left the hearts of audiences or their students, allowing these teachers and their lessons to create a lasting legacy that transcends the films they were in. Whether it be Sidney Poitier’s Mark Thackeray in To Sir, With Love, Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Mary Clarence bringing the love of music to the students of St. Francis High School in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, or the endearing performance of Robin Williams as John Keating in Dead Poets Society instilling the infamous words of Walt Whitman into his students culminating in the iconic “O Captain! My Captain!” finale to the film, the wisdom and heart that they gave to their students has touched the lives of millions of viewers. A common thread amongst such memorable movie teachers is the social and economic conditions that their students have fallen in, setting the groundwork for important lessons to be parted upon their students who faced their own challenges outside the classroom. And it is a similar situation that the teachers find themselves in in the latest Netflix film Steve.

Following his Oscar winning role in Oppenheimer, expectations were sky high for Cillian Murphy’s follow up projects to see what great performance he would give next. Reuniting with director Tim Mielants after last year’s Small Things Like These, Murphy’s latest role in Steve shares the hallmarks to other stories that have helped to create some of cinema’s most memorable teachers, though even though he gives a good performance, Murphy will not be joining the ranks of cinema's most beloved teachers with Steve. Despite a strong cast of actors including Murphy, Tracey Ullman, Emily Watson, Jay Lycurgo, Roger Allam and Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Steve suffers due to a screenplay that stretches the story of Max Porter’s novella Shy to fit a feature length film that misses the urgency of the subject matter, resulting in a hollow and tiresome film that never escapes the chaos of its own story.

Adapting his own novella to the screen, Porter struggles to translate his novella from the page to the screen. While he understands his story unlike any screenwriter can, and there is no question that the heart of the story is in the right place trying to showcase the unsung heroics of teachers and shine a spotlight on troubled youth who need help, the screenplay struggles right out of the gates. Cramming an entire day at this school into a ninety-two minute film sets major constraints on the storylines that can be developed, creating a choppy pacing that is not helped by the havoc being created by the unruly students that is jarring to the audience and the constant cuts to black to signify the time throughout the day. Porter tries to create this lived in day in the life feeling, but with the undeveloped storylines and overly sappy ending that does not match the rest of the film that feels cheap after the attack on the senses that the audience just experienced, the story never takes flight as it should. Mielants does have some intriguing moments that play with the film’s central idea of drowning in one's own feelings, in which his direction creates some of the more captivating moments of the film, but sadly they feel in poor taste with the story consistently teasing a student committing suicide by drowning themselves constantly throughout the film. Overall, while you can see what Porter and Mielants were trying to capture in this film, and even though the messaging is clear, it feels like a crammed and hollow iteration of what could have been a compelling school drama.

Even though the storytelling itself cannot create an engaging film for the audiences, the cast does a wonderful job with the material they are given to work with. Murphy, to no surprise, is great as Steve, the school’s head teacher trying to manage the unruly students amidst the chaos of the news crew producing their program on the school and the news that they are being shut down and forced to shut their doors within a matter of months. With a cool head as he tries to be a steadfast anchor amidst the tumultuous events of the day and managing his own mental health, Murphy grounds the film with a compassion for the school and his students, highlighting the noble fight that teachers make every day. Ullman is wonderful as one of Steve’s fellow teachers Amanda, Watson has some powerful and emotionally charged moments as the school’s counsellor during explosive sessions with some of the students, and Lycurgo shines as the film’s main student Shy as he grapples with the internal demons of his characters and explosive moments alongside Murphy. There is no shortage in talent in this cast, and it shows in the performances, but they are fighting an uphill battle from the very beginning with the lacking script stacking the deck against them despite their valiant efforts.

It has been a while since audiences have been treated to a soul nourishing school drama, and despite Steve having the potential to be exactly that, audiences are going to have to wait a little longer to find that new movie teacher to work their way into their hearts. Despite the strong lead performance of Cillian Murphy that grounds the entire film and conveys the ideas that Max Porter tries to champion in his screenplay, Steve suffers from a chaotic presence that simultaneously under-develops the majority of its storylines and creates an emotionless film that never truly comes together.