BlackBerry (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

I saw this movie on opening night (May 11, 2023 in Canada), so I'm a bit late in starting this thread.

BlackBerry charts the start (ish), rise, and fall of the Canadian company RIM and its infamous BlackBerry mobile product.

Directed by Canadian Matt Johnson (The Dirties), the film stars Jay Baruchel as founder Mike Lazaridis, and Glenn Howerton as CEO Jim Balsillie. Saul Rubinek, Michael Ironside, and Cary Elwes have minor parts. Mark Critch from This Hour Has 22 Minutes is hilarious in a small role as NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

BlackBerry is part of the unofficial "product" set of movies going around this year, including Tetris (about the game), Air (about Nike), and Flamin' Hot (Cheetos).

Out of all of the product movies, I liked BlackBerry the most (and I really liked Air). The plot is nicely paced (events are dramatized and timelines are rather fluid, of course) and it's pretty dang enthralling much of the time. The movie was quite funny at times (lots of nice jokes made at Canada's expense--which we all love to see!).

But Glenn Howerton steals the entire movie. Perhaps not dissimilar from the real life person he portrays, Howerton is like a force of nature rampaging through the frame and chewing as much scenery as he can.

Great movie. If you liked Air you might like this more (I did). It might be a tad hard to find outside of Canada, but I think it's coming to streaming and physical media soon. As of today's date, BlackBerry has a 98% score on Rotten Tomatoes if you care about that sort of thing.

9/10

 

[JoeStemme]

Public service announcement: One of the year's best movies, BLACKBERRY, is showing as a three-part mini-series on AMC (and their AMC+ streaming service).
Haven't seen this cut, but the film version is very good. The feature version is also available to stream.

 

[JoeStemme]

The Mini-Series cut is about 8 or 9 minutes longer than the feature cut: https://collider.com/blackberry-the-limited-series-review/

 

[JoeStemme]

Right at the top, BLACKBERRY notes that it is a 'fictionalization' even though it's based on a non-fiction book and names names. Straight off, one can see that the tone will be off-kilter. Director, Co-Writer (with Matthew Miller) and Co-star Matt Johnson takes a freaks and geeks approach to the pair of inventors who co-founded a relatively small Canadian tech company, Research In Motion, Mike Lazaridis (Jay Barechel) and Doug Fregin (Johnson). A pitch meeting gone bad to a much larger firm, nevertheless ends up attracting the interest of a mid-level executive who sees potential in their idea for what would become the title device. Jim Basillie (Glen Howerton) is portrayed as an over-the-top shark who takes advantage of the boys' naivete. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

Jared Raab's jittery camera, Jay McCarrol's dynamic score and several choice song cuts by the likes of Joy Division, The Strokes and Elastica create a feeling of semi-controlled chaos as the modest firm eventually creates what can now be termed the first Smartphone. It's success leads to it being nicknamed the 'Crackberry'. The screenplay stays focused on the business end. Save for a very brief scene in Basillie's then modest home, the characters have no personal lives to speak of. Women are barely scene (so much so, that Johnson makes an amusing visual jab out of it). Johnson also is smart to tone down the frenetic camera and editing once the movie gets more serious (it is a rise AND fall story after all).

The cast is quite good here despite the lack of any real backstory. Howerton in particular relishes his Type A scene chewing. Michael Ironside has a loud supporting role as an operations manager who takes particular delight in knocking down the tech nerds a peg - calling them “children'.

BLACKBERRY is as deep as a detailed text (something with Blackberry first made practical), and inaccuracies abound, but it's a highly enjoyable rags to riches story. It may not be a 'just the facts version of events' -- but, it does entertain, and most importantly, it does get at the 'truth' in it's own skewed way.

Note: This is a review of the feature film version, not the AMC mini-series edition

BLACKBERRY is currently streaming on AMC+ and for rental. It's on DVD and Blu Ray.