Director: Matt Johnson
Actors: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Cary Elwes
Genre: Drama / Biopic
Rating: M
‘BlackBerry’ is another mostly-non-fiction
cautionary business origin film, along the lines of ‘The Founder’ and ‘The Social
Network’, as well as this year’s ‘Air’ and ‘Tetris’. We follow friends Mike (Baruchel),
the tech whiz & Doug, the morale-booster (Johnson, also the director) who
have formed start-up Research In Motion in Canada in the 90s, focusing on
making modems and have a patent for a handheld email device. They come across
ruthless businessman Jim (Howerton), who turns their idea into a reality.
The film probably sensationalises a lot of things, but does well to
focus on some of the personal drama, especially the balancing act between Mike
& Jim. But I would’ve liked to have seen more of the Mike/Doug dynamic and
their early-RIM friends/employees doing the development. The acting is good all-round,
with Baruchel playing someone different for him, Howerton is a great bastard
and Johnson is fun, basically the TJ Miller character form ‘Silicon Valley’.
There’s some laughs, but a lot more focus on the progress of the business.
BlackBerry had a good 6 years from 2002–2007, somewhat thanks to Mike
becoming more like Jim, as well as hiring slave-driver Charles (Ironside) and
the things that Jim has to do to fend off the takeover by Carl (Elwes) and Palm.
BlackBerry was ultimately doomed to fail when Android OS became the standard
for mobile phones, as well as the marketing behind the iPhone. Big shame for
me, as I think I was one of the few in Australia who still owned a BlackBerry
in 2010! Well-paced and under 2 hours, with an OK-digital-style score.
Overall: Somewhat bittersweet, but engaging story
Gav's
Rating: 3 stars
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