BlackBerry

Director: Matt Johnson
Starring: Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton, Matt Johnson, Rich Sommer, Michael Ironside, Martin Donovan, SungWon Cho, Mark Critch, Saul Rubinek, Cary Elwes
Running Time: 121 min.
Rating: R

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

The best thing about Matt Johnson's biopic depicting the creation of the BlackBerry mobile phone is how for extended periods you completely forget what it's supposed to be about. When the groundbreaking device makes its first appearance it actually feels like a shock, as if we haven't been building to that moment since its retro cool opening credit sequence. A mismatched pairing of two wildly different personalities, what transpires is far bigger than either envisioned, until eventually swallowing them both whole. But the best stuff comes before that when we see how this nerdy, inefficient entrepreneur reluctantly joins forces with a quick-tempered, cutthroat executive. And what should be a partnership from hell ends up working out better than expected, at least for a while.  

A character study to its core, this differs from other features about popular consumer products by deeply investing in the people involved, showing exactly how they were positively and negatively impacted by their venture. Unlike the recent Tetris, it doesn't try to be something it's not, instead examining the nuts and bolts of BlackBerry's rise to cultural prominence by getting inside the heads of those who made the magic happen. It explores their motivations and mistakes, while also charting the change they undergo when success arrives. It's not so much that they're flawed than unprepared for what awaits, suddenly forced to adapt or fall behind.

It's 1996 in Waterloo, Canada when Research in Motion (RIM) CEO Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and best friend and co-founder Douglas Fregin (Johnson) present their new "PocketLink" cellular device to an unimpressed, distracted executive named Jim Balsille (Glenn Howerton). After their pitch bombs and Jim's hubris gets him fired from his firm, he reaches out to Mike and Doug again, offering to work with them if he's named CEO of RIM and gets half the company. Jim instead settles for a third of the pie and a Co-CEO title alongside Mike, quickly realizing they need more help than he thought. 

Upon discovering RIM is a ragtag, money losing operation with engineers spending their days playing video games and watching movies, an intimidating Jim makes swift changes, landing him and Mike a meeting at Bell Atlantic to demonstrate an early "PocketLink" prototype that will soon be rebranded the "BlackBerry." It's a breakthrough, but the device's astonishing popularity soon makes the company a target, as they're fighting off hostile takeovers, the SEC, and the sudden emergence of Apple's revolutionary iPhone. A thrilling run while it lasts, what they built is about to come crashing down. 

Loosely adapted from the 2015 book, "Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry," the whole setup is hilarious, with these men from two vastly different worlds somehow co-existing under one banner. Johnson's script really plays up just how awkwardly bumbling Mike and Doug are, making you wonder how they were let into Jim's office to begin with, much less founded a tech company of their own. The most creative liberties are probably taken here, but it helps make the story, as exceptional writing and performances breathe vibrant life into what could have easily been the driest of topics.

Mike and Jim need each other more than they know, since this brilliant but underachieving slacker  lacks the business savvy the latter brings to the table. Conversely, Mike possesses the technical expertise Jim can only fake. While they mix like oil and water, it's clear Jim sees potential in his impressionable co-chair that can be exploited so long as he handles the financial end. The film's pivot point is a Bell Atlantic meeting where Mike comes to the rescue, saving the pitch and setting them on a path where the company soars, growing at an uncontrollable rate neither can fully comprehend.

When BlackBerry takes over the cell phone market in the mid 00's, there's no turning back, which is bad news for bandana-wearing, movie obsessed co-founder Doug, who soon becomes the odd man out. Discovering an autonomy he never knew he had, Mike realizes his best friend's laid-back approach no longer fits into this new corporate structure and the days of needing Doug's input fall by the wayside. One of the funniest details come when RIM offices move, and despite the upgrade, 80's movie posters still hang, the goofing around persists and nothing changes beyond their location. But it needs to, and despite his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles wallet and video game tees, even Doug sees the writing on the wall that he's become the Woz to Mike's Steve Jobs. 

Having mortgaged his home to finance a project that's now made him richer than he ever thought possible, Jim's on top of the world. But he also has an enormous ego that's about to fly off the rails as he fends off scheming Palm CEO Carl Yankowski (Cary Elwes), installs a new no-nonsense COO in Charles Purdy (Michael Ironside) and attempts to purchase a hockey franchise. Mike and Jim's abilities to cover the other's flaws are undone by mounting legal woes that pale in comparison to their inability to counter the iPhone. The film's final scene isn't just an ingenious callback to Mike's obsession with problem solving, but how he's forced to do something he swore he wouldn't in order to keep going.

Best known for his supporting comedy roles Jay Baruchel gets a long deserved showcase, as he credibly conveys the inexperienced Mike's transformative ascent and eventual decline. Subtly indicating a constant sense of insecurity and guilt, he plays the character as if he fears everything is a fluke that could disappear at any moment. There's no such trepidation in Jim, with Glenn Howerton imbuing this greedy piranha with a slick, bombastic bluster that enables him to steamroll over everyone in his way. Knowing the clock's quickly running out, he's determined to milk every last bit of leverage, with self-sabotaging results. 

Matt Johnson provides the largest dose of comedic relief, further highlighting just how seismic a shift his friend undergoes. Doug's left in the dust, even if you can't help but think he comes out the least damaged of the three. Comfortably feeling every bit like a Canadian production in both its setting and casting, Johnson's most important contribution comes as co-writer and director, with the filmmaker showing the potential downsides of having an idea years ahead of its time. The public has to be ready for it, the technology flawless, and the capital available. If just one is missing, it's wise to brace for eventual failure.  

These guys knew exactly where the future was headed, but the obstacles proved too much, turning this into a cautionary tale that isn't entirely dissimilar to The Social Network or the great AMC series Halt and Catch Fire. It's nice to get there first, but a greater feat to actually be the last left standing at the end. BlackBerry rarely needs to remind us we're looking at the individuals who invented the smartphone, as they appear equally in awe themselves, struggling to figure it all out as they go along.