Blackberry the movie: A gripping real-life corporate tragedy
Another week, another product biopic. Films about Air Jordan shoes, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos crisps, Beanie Babies, and Tetris have all been released this year to varying success. While the merit of some of those stories may be questionable, BlackBerry has arguably the most intriguing subject.
Before everyone stared at their own black mirrors, BlackBerry phones were the first smart devices to really take off, before Apple made them a relic of the past. Was it a case of technological evolution, or something more complicated?
The black comedy is really about a clash of cultures. The plot centres on Doug Fregin and Mike Lazaridis (director Matt Johnson and Jay Baruchel), the technical wizards who formulated an idea to combine a phone and “email machine” in one device, exploiting a free-to-use wireless network. Their expertise is hampered by business naivety, but the arrival of hard-nosed CEO Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) sends them into the stratosphere. Soon everyone has a “Crackberry”, but success creates the kind of pressure that will lead to a spectacular implosion.
As with other product origin stories, the item is much less interesting than the people who invented it. Adapting from the book Losing The Signal, Johnson tells a story that has a lot of hard-nosed jabs, but never feels as brutal as something like The Social Network. No one person is a demon here, but rather motivations and bad decisions.
As you watch the rapid ascent, there’s an unease that builds knowing the iPhone is in the distance, waiting to obliterate everything that’s being forged. The film is less concerned with watching the carnage than working out how it happened. Egos, and the kind of hubris that comes when Big Tech meets Bigger Commerce, are ruthlessly dissected. This is done alongside a meditation about whether it’s better to be happy at your job or successful. There aren’t any easy answers, but the questions keep you gripped.
The cast is impeccably assembled. Baruchel has played awkward nerds for decades, and does a wonderful job portraying Lazaridis as someone torn between the world of tinkering geeks and money men. As Fregin, Johnson is broader but represents a desire to resist the suits and stick to the movie marathons and computer game culture that fostered their ideas.
Howerton is excellent, staring a hole through his co-stars as a man only concerned with the bottom line. Scarily good support from Michael Ironside and Mad Men’s Rich Sommer help expand a world that seems to get more out of control by the minute.
While it’s unlikely that many under thirty will have much nostalgia for BlackBerry, the deliciously dark rise and fall tale works because it prods at universal themes. Ruminating upon the cost and sustainability of success, there’s depth beneath the caustic wit and Star Wars references.