BlackBerry, 2023.
Directed by Matt Johnson.
Starring Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel, Matt Johnson, Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Michael Ironside, SungWon Cho, Rich Sommer, and Michelle Giroux.
SYNOPSIS:
The true story of the meteoric rise & catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone, BlackBerry is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley at breakneck speeds.
May 5th, 2023, marked the beginning of the tenth Chicago Critics Film Festival, which always boasts a thoughtfully curated selection of movies that deserve to be seen. For this 10-year milestone, there’s also a theme of incorporating the works of filmmakers and actors that have been a part of the festival in years past.
One such case is the opening-night curtain jerker, BlackBerry, which follows the rise and fall of the technological device, coming from co-writer/Director Matt Johnson, who appeared in a previous festival selection called The Dirties, but this time appearing in person for a post-discussion Q&A and trivia game where he gave away Criterion Collection DVDs for correctly answering questions about his film.
Comparisons to The Social Network have probably already been made, which is not necessarily a bad thing considering what Matt Johnson does so well here (co-writing alongside Matthew Miller, adapting books by Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff) is home in on the characterizations of the real-life people rather than focus on the technology itself. The story involves nerdy best friends Mike Lazaridis (a silver-haired Jay Baruchel) and Doug (a dopey-looking Matt Johnson), with the former serving as a perfectionist determined to succeed with their small company’s ambition to create the world’s first smartphone, whereas Doug and the rest of the staff are more laid-back, preferring to enjoy their jobs. Doug sports Doom T-shirts and regularly hosts movie nights, painting a picture of stereotypical losers (by the standards of the time) that happened to luck into something extraordinary that would inevitably tear them apart based on their philosophies regarding going about the work.
It’s not long before they are screwed over by their current work partner, forcing their hand into getting into bed with business shark Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, who tornados his way through every scene with power-hungry rage), who has the means to get a shell of the product in front of potential buyers before mass production. He also has a habit of temperamentally degrading the lower-level workers at every corner, drawing the typical stark contrast between ruthless executives and employees. Unsurprisingly, with more and more success, alongside the trials and tribulations from overambition, the work culture becomes a different place, with Mike becoming more like Jim, gradually treating Doug like a piece of dirt.
Jim’s hunger for wealth and control also goes far beyond technology, at one point looking into purchasing a hockey team for nationalistic reasons, hoping to bring that team to Canada. It’s yet another power-play that further fractures the good things they have going, and Glenn Howerton leans into that thirst for conquest, storming and shouting his way through every scene. Aside from the strong characterizations of the three main players, it’s also refreshing to see the technology work culture treated with such nerdom. In the Q&A, Matt Johnson mentions that most of these workers were simply hackers from Canada that were generally degenerate gamers, expressing that he intended to go for the feel and look of the workplace environment of a gaming studio in the 1990s and early 2000s.
And while the script doesn’t quite reach the highs of Aaron Sorkin’s work, it’s admittedly far sharper than anticipated, with a gut-punch ending calling back to Matt’s morals and the kind of person he vowed never to become. BlackBerry is a scintillating and often riotously hilarious cautionary tale about wealth, business ethics, power, and friendship. One doesn’t need to know a damn thing about the device to find this film riveting.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
