Blackberry is the story of the rise and fall of the Blackberry phone. Starring Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton, Blackberry joins movies like Tetris, Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game and Flamin’ Hot as 2023 biopics about common products.
It’s hard to talk about this movie without talking about the stellar performances both Baruchel and Howerton put in. Baruchel plays Mike Lazardis, the founder of Blackberry. He is introduced as this quiet yet brilliant engineer who is too nervous to speak for himself.
Throughout the movie, he grows into a much louder, confrontational person. Howerton is his foil. He plays Jim Balsillie, a much louder and more abrasive shady businessman. His performance was so good, I was rooting for him over Mike’s cofounder Doug. For those who only know him as Dennis from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia, he goes on some unhinged rants to please you.
The story is pretty easy to follow, given it’s based on the true events of Blackberry. I’m going to date myself here but by the time I had gotten my first phone (Logitech Expression by the way), Blackberry had lost its hold on the phone market. I was still very aware of its presence, just not its history. It is always welcoming to see a history lesson in movie form, especially when I had very little knowledge about it all.
Blackberry has a very unique style to it. The movie takes place in the 90s and early 2000s and has a grainier look to reflect that. The camera is always in motion, which for some reason reminded me of The Office or Parks and Recreation. There were a couple of instances where the characters looked right into the camera and I thought they’d give a testimonial. But alas, they did not, but I still really enjoyed how it looked.
Final Thoughts
I really can’t complain about anything I saw in Blackberry. The performances of the leads are incredibly strong. I would not be surprised to see some award love headed in Howerton’s direction. The story is very engaging and it balanced its dramatic themes with some comedy as well. I have gotten pretty tired of the biopic movement in movies now but if they are of this caliber, I’ll park my little rear down and watch with a smile.
