Film Review: BlackBerry

BlackBerry

Rhombus Media, Zapruder Films

Elevation Pictures

Description

‘BlackBerry’ tells the story of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, the two men that charted the course of the spectacular rise and catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone

Release dates

February 17, 2023 (Berlin)

May 12, 2023 (Canada)

My Rating

7/10

#whatonwhatsgood Fan Club Rating

75%

#whatonwhatsgood Express Review

BlackBerry is a comedy biopic that tells the story of the rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone.

Best friends Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson) are trying to pitch their new mobile phone. They have a great product on their hands but have no idea how to sell it.

They do manage to sell their idea to the ruthless and cunning businessman Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton).

You get that bully (Glenn Howerton) vs nerds (Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson) in this film.  It's fun.

Directed by

Matt Johnson

Screenplay by

Matt Johnson and Matthew Miller

Based on

Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry

by Jacquie McNish, Sean Silcoff

Produced by

Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, Kevin Krikst and Matthew Miller

Starring

Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis

Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie

Cary Elwes as Carl Yankowski

Saul Rubinek as John Woodman

Michael Ironside as Charles Purdy

Rich Sommer as Paul Stannos

SungWon Cho as Ritchie Cheung

Michelle Giroux as Dara Frankel

Matt Johnson as Douglas Fregin

Cinematography

Jared Raab

Edited by

Curt Lobb

Music by

Jay McCarrol

Matthew Miller discusses Blackberry

“It was challenging at first because the book had a lot of intricate details on business dealings and technology, which is a bit of a blind spot for us” 

“We were trying to figure out who these men were and what motivated them, and how they related to each other, to find our own point of entry to the story.”

“It’s funny that the film is based on a book called ‘The Rise and Fall of Blackberry,’ 

“Because to me they’re a huge success story. I know people think they’re a bit of a joke because of their rapid downfall, but they also had a meteoric rise. Blackberry is some of the best of what Canada is capable of."

Matt Johnson discusses Blackberry

“Before we started, all I knew about Blackberry was that they were from Waterloo, Ontario, but I was really excited by that.” 

“The Blackberry was the status symbol of the early-2000s and at the beginning of the social-media era, it made you part of a group. The BBM perfectly captured that, like you can’t talk to somebody on BBM unless you both have Blackberries, it opened up a new way of communicating, way before Instagram DMs or Snapchat.”

“The way they ran RIM was not dissimilar to making a movie with a bunch of your friends.  It’s the model we’ve been using for our company for the past ten-plus years. Obviously, as you become more successful and you get more resources, things become more challenging. People grow-up and change and you’re not the same people you were when you were young.”