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These days, being able to make phone calls and send texts and emails from the same device is totally commonplace. Most of us have had a smart phone for years. But BlackBerry tells the fictionalized, satirical story of the first mobile device of its kind, following the rise and fall of a groundbreaking company.
BlackBerry explores the story behind the BlackBerry—the first device to put phone calls and texting and emails in the palm of the hand. It all starts with the brilliant nerds of Research in Motion, who have a great idea but absolutely no business sense. When Mike and Doug (Jay Baruchel and director Matt Johnson) meet cutthroat businessman Jim (Glenn Howerton) in a disastrous meeting, he’s able to turn their business around. But meteoric growth comes with its own new challenges, and the business struggles to keep up the frantic pace while fighting off a potential takeover.
Once Mike and Doug bring Jim onboard, all of their lives change. Jim is brash and confident—the kind of guy who will keep fighting until he gets what he wants. And he wants it all: success and fortune and his own NHL team. Timid Mike, meanwhile, may be the stable force behind this whole operation, but he’ll happily do whatever Jim thinks is best. And scruffy, outspoken, headband-wearing Doug may be the more vocal of the two founders, but his business ideas aren’t always sound. Together, these three characters bring the film some big, exaggerated personalities, but, unfortunately, they’re not especially likable. Jim is too harsh, Doug is too goofy, and Mike is just too wishy-washy. And that makes it hard to connect to any of them.
From the opening scene, the story here is just a whole lot of chaos. It’s a choppy mess of business meetings and high-energy conversations and private plane flights to undisclosed locations and the raucous environment of the Research in Motion offices. It’s a story of a partnership between socially awkward computer geeks and a loud, commanding, overconfident businessman—of a company that experienced overnight success and struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the market. And though the story of BlackBerry is definitely an interesting one, the film’s general disarray and the over-the-top characters (along with the distracting hairstyles) make it all feel a little too maddening.
BlackBerry has taken the real story of a revolutionary company’s rapid rise and dramatic crash and cranks it up several notches, turning it into a madcap mess that never gives viewers time to stop and catch their breath. There’s something fascinating about it, but it’s absolutely exhausting to watch.
You can travel back to the wild days of mobile phones when BlackBerry arrives in theaters on May 12, 2023.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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