Title – BlackBerry (2023) 

Director – Matt Johnson (The Dirties) 

Cast – Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel, Matt Johnson, Kelly Van der Burg

Plot – Documents the rise and fall of the worlds first ever smartphone, the Blackberry in the early 2000’s. 

“The more painful the sacrifice, the greater you’ll be”

Review by Eddie on 14/08/2023

Taking its cues from the likes of Adam McKay’s The Big Short and Vice, Matt Johnson’s BlackBerry is a frenetic and constantly moving biopic on the worlds first ever smartphone, mixing drama and comedy into one hyperactive concoction that doesn’t deliver anything groundbreaking but gifts us another cautionary tale of the fickle nature of success all the while giving its two main stars Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel an opportunity to showcase that their more than what audiences have grown to appreciate them for. 

Gaining attention with his 2013 independent offering The Dirties, Johnson (who here also acts as the pop culture/moving night loving Doug) gifts It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Howerton and stoner comedy expat Baruchel chances to shine as the repulsively aggressive and vicious Jim Balsillie and the mild-mannered tech genius Mike Lazaridis respectively, with both performers excelling in their roles in this Canadian backed affair that almost seems too impossible to in fact be true. 

Driven by the dangerously obsessive Balsillie and the tech-focused minds of Lazaridis and Doug Fregin, watching the rise and fall of the BlackBerry brand from the late 1990’s into the early 2000’s is a wild ride and one that is going to have to be considered a must-watch by anyone that is somewhat of a “tech-head”, it’s hard to recall many businesses that had such an immediate and notable rise and an equally notable and sad demise and its a credit to Johnson and his cast that their able to draw so much entertainment from a story that while in a way encouraging to those with big dreams is equally frightening to those that expect success to be a gift that keeps on giving. 

Doing little in the way of providing any lead up backstory or groundwork to what made these true life characters the ones they are when we join them on their world conquering journey, BlackBerry does suffer from being able to truly grip its audience into it’s world, with there never really being an emotional connection to anything going on around our characters and with the inevitable downfall coming for the company and those that built it, BlackBerry feels more like a film ticking off a series of boxes rather than one giving us anything unexpected or memorable. 

At days end a quick moving dramedy with two solid against type performances and another impressive all-round effort from the multi-tasking Johnson, BlackBerry is one of those easy to watch films that will likely be overshadowed by the bigger players coming our way in 2023. 

Final Say – 

Taking inspiration from films of a similar ilk that managed to become special offerings in their own unique ways, BlackBerry is a watchable and well performed feature that lacks the true heart and soul that would’ve made it a special low-budgeted experience. 

3 movie nights out of 5