Blackberry (2023) * * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Matt Johnson

Starring:  Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Michael Ironside, Cary Elwes, Rich Sommer, Saul Rubinek

Before the iPhone, there was Blackberry, and it ruled the technology world for close to a decade before Steve Jobs decided to hide the keyboard on the screen.  After that, Blackberry was unable to compete and eventually went the way of the dodo.  Blackberry, the movie, is based on the rise and fall of the Canadian company and it is a riveting tale of genius and hard work giving way to irrelevance.  That's technology for you.  Today's innovation is tomorrow's outdated tech.   First there was a record player, then cassettes, then CD's...you know the drill.

Blackberry was the first smartphone, but as is the way with technology, wasn't the last.  Its creator is the hopelessly backward tech genius Mike Lazaridis (Baruchel), the CEO of a Canadian firm called Research in Motion (RIM).  He and the company's co-founder Douglas Fregin (Johnson) pitch investment capitalist Jim Balsillie (Howerton) on the device in what Balsillie calls "the worst pitch he's ever heard,"  Mike is no pitchman (he reads from his notes and never makes eye contact with Jim), but he can throw together a working prototype within 24 hours.  Balsillie is soon fired from his job for being an arrogant, overstepping jerk, but soon he offers his services to Mike as co-CEO.   While Jim isn't a people person, he whips the lackluster RIM into shape and within days is selling thousands of units to Bell Atlantic.  

The action cuts to 2003, Blackberry is now riding high with a 45-percent market share and celebrities like Oprah Winfrey hawking the device on her show.   Mike and Jim are co-CEO, but Jim does a lot of the dirty work while Mike holes up in his office working on the latest Blackberry device with an updated tracking ball.  Soon, Palm Pilot's obnoxious CEO Carl Yankowski (Elwes-at his smug best) floats the probability of a hostile takeover of Blackberry, which ups the stakes higher, causing Jim to pilfer the best tech and executive talent from Google and other huge companies promising millions in dubious and manipulated stock options.  

Once 2007 rolls around, Steve Jobs is announcing the iPhone and Mike, whether in denial or true belief that his creation will survive Apple's new product, announces to Verizon and his other customers that Blackberry will feature an updated tracking ball (remember those?), who are naturally underwhelmed.  Then, the SEC starts making polite phone calls which turn into a full-fledged raid when they decide to stop being courteous, mostly due to Jim's stock option shenanigans.  

The prologue promises a movie which doesn't necessarily stick to the facts, and upon research, some of the timelines and situations depicted in Blackberry were fudged or exaggerated for dramatic purposes.  What matters isn't whether Blackberry is 100% accurate, but whether it's absorbing and challenging; showing us how the market can make you a conquering hero one year and irrelevant the next.   Think about how hard the Blackberry company worked to update models and keep Blackberry atop the marketplace, only to be vanquished by Apple and the ever-changing desires of consumers.  By the time Blackberry made a phone with a touch screen, all of the units were faulty and Verizon sued Blackberry.  The movie Blackberry is a fast-paced look at how the mighty fell, and it's quite entertaining to boot.