'BlackBerry' Review: Smart Bio Drama About the World's First Smartphone Hits 5G Bars
BlackBerry
R: Language throughout
Runtime: 2 Hours and 01 Minute
Production Companies: Rhombus Media, Zapruder Films, Elevation Pictures
Distributor: IFC Films
Directors: Matt Johnson
Writers: Matt Johnson, Matthew Miller
Cast: Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel, Matt Johnson, Rich Sommer, Michael Ironside, Martin Donovan, Michelle Giroux, SungWon Cho, Mark Critch, Saul Rubinek, Cary Elwes
Release Date: May 12, 2023
In Theaters Only
2023 has us diving into films about the creation of iconic products. This year’s SXSW gave us the success story of Tetris and Nike Air Jordan. Then there was the BlackBerry, uh, backstory? We can’t call it a “success” anymore, can we? The Canadian-originated phone company used to reign when it revolutionized and pioneered the smartphone industry. But boy, did its corporate heads lack the “smart” in smartphones. That is how director, co-writer, and star Matt Johnson hits send with an exciting dramedy that chronicles the rise and painful (like your thumb after using the phone’s trackball for too long) fall of the BlackBerry.
In 1992, Canadian BFFs/tech engineers/nerds Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Douglas Fregin (Matt Johnson) made a disastrous pitch to tech businessman Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) for their phone “Pocket Link,” the world's first smartphone. Balsillie rejects them but is interested in the product. Immediately after Balsillie sends them on their way, he loses his job. With nowhere to go, he heads straight to Research in Motion, which Lazaridis and Fregin founded together. The small startup company is run by Star Wars-loving, PC-gaming nerds straight out of an AV Club. Balsillie offers to help the guys sell their Pocket Link under two conditions: he owns 50% of the company and acts as CEO. Fregin instantly hates the idea, disliking the wolf in tech clothing. However, Lazaridis accepts, becoming co-CEO. Balsillie's hot fuse and sharp wit immediately clash with the nerdy engineer at the company, though his marketing skills whip them into shape and help RIM to the big leagues with their phone, renamed BlackBerry. BlackBerry succeeds, but it all comes crashing down when Balsillie and Lazaridis’ corruptive business practices threaten the state of the company and Lazaridis’ friendship with Fregin.
Johnson strays from the exhausting copy-and-paste Wikipedia format many bio-dramas have followed recently. Like Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, each act takes place over three separate pivotal years in BlackBerry's history: 1992 (when Balsillie entered RIM), 2003 (when RIM turned into BlackBerry Limited, at the height of its market power), and 2007 (when Steve Jobs unveiled a wacky little phone that served as BlackBerry’s death blow). Through the designated years, Lazaridis, Balsillie, and Fregin’s moralities are put to the test as their company becomes profitable.
Balsillie and Fregin are transparent with their motives. The former is in it for the money, control, and *checks notes* eventually enough power to buy an NHL team. Look it up. It’s as hilarious as it sounds. Meanwhile, Doug Fregin wants to have fun and enjoy movie nights with his fellow nerd engineers. The businessman vs. man-baby conflict could have easily been straightforward and one note, but Johnson cleverly positions Lazaridis as the nonaligned glue contrasting the two. He handles Fregin from his friend's side and Balsillie from a business side, swinging more towards the latter as time passes. The more that BlackBerry’s success increases in the phone market, the lesser its glue sticks due to a slow burn of greed. With the varying personalities in a workplace full of engineers and sketchy salesmen, Johnson and co-writer Matthew Miller take advantage of the comedic potential through sharp dry wit in every scene.
Charging BlackBerry’s battery is Johnson’s immersive observational verité filmmaking. He uses a handheld, shaky cam and zooms to complement the comic timing reminiscent of Succession. Usually, the snob in me would take over and whine over the similar style, but hey, I’m a bitch for this kind of filmmaking (when done right, unlike new money Adam McKay style). BlackBerry is to Succession as Searchlight’s Theater Camp is to Abbott Elementary: understanding the technical song and dances of the directional style and using it for a feature. The filmmaking style works here, making the scenes within the BlackBerry headquarters and phone company business rooms full of frenetic movement, giving a fascinating feeling through its well-paced two-hour runtime. The style also complements and strengthens the comedic beats.
The comedic ensemble carries, bringing their A-game to the setting. Jay Baruchel's dimensional portrayal of Lazaridis is the slowest burn as a pushover succumbing to his ego. His deadpan humor is as Baruchel-ly as ever, but he truly shines when his self-claimed "good enough is the enemy of humanity" mantra is tested.
Glenn Howerton, my bald five-star man, is outstanding as the hot-fused Jim Balsillie. Some of my favorite Howerton comedic beats, primarily as Dennis Reynolds in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, are his intense rage scenes. His performance as Balsillie is as if Dennis Reynolds was a child of Logan Roy and inherited his short temperament. Every time Balsillie had a meltdown, I couldn’t help but be overjoyed, cackling in my seat as Howerton brought that signature anger to the big screen. Although I certainly have criticisms of Fregin’s character writing, I liked Matt Johnson’s portrayal of him. He is the functioning comic relief and an emotional soul. Fregin could’ve easily been egregiously annoying for me to side with the capitalistic people working against him, but Johnson brings warmth to his portrayal.
Johnson is aware of the scummy people within the Research in Motion/BlackBerry company and hams those personalities to an exaggerated degree. The audience is on the geeky engineer’s defense as their pool becomes infested by aggressive business sharks who flaunt money and empty promises. There’s one moment during the second act where on Balsillie’s capitalistic side, the geeks begin to goof around during a server crash affecting all BlackBerry users across the globe. Balsillie and Lazaridis hire a micromanager to oversee the office space, dismantling Fregin’s Friday movie afternoon tradition that he implemented in the company since day one. When Fregin comes into the office with a VHS in hand to a surprising working room, he is outraged. I don’t know if Johnson intended to have the audience side with Fregin, forcing a beat of sentimentality as he confronts Lazaridis about the change. Common sense and logic kicked in my head, going, “Bro, you’re in a big ass company with millions of people depending on you and your engineers. Get shit done first! This is what happens when you keep goofing around.” Don't push the sentimental button when a shit ton of phones aren’t functioning! It sounds like a nitpick, but I was frustrated with Fregin, then myself, for Johnson caught me thinking from a capitalist lens, which left a sour taste in my mouth.
The story hits the "greed is bad" beats you see in many films of this nature, but it hits home with a surprising fable angle. Whatever tropes it falls into is made up by stringing a biting cautionary tale of passion versus power.
I've been itching for a new tech-based drama that captures the liveliness of David Fincher’s The Social Network and Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs. I’m a sucker for character studies of tech-savvy businessmen whose success, ambitions, and pettiness are outclassed by their hubris. Matt Johnson's BlackBerry sits among the greats through a refreshing rise and fall narrative less concerned about the impact of the product itself, leaning towards a layered study of three business dudes using power and passion for profit. It's a fully powered examination of the men of BlackBerry Limited, charged with unique filmmaking, sharp storytelling, and 5G performances across the board by stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, and Matt Johnson.
