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The rise and fall of Blackberry, the world's first smartphone, it's journey from initial conception, to funding, all the way through to its tragic collapse.

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it's one I would suggest that has a universal appeal, one many will enjoy, fascinating to think this is where it all started, everything about our phones that we now take for granted.

What a fascinating story this is, I'm sure many of us had a blackberry back in the day, I certainly did, it was such a reliable device, it was a game changer, until iPhone that is.

It's an intriguing story, with several jaw dropping moments, including the way Jim made his initial impact, then went on and assembled such an incredible work force.

A few funny moments, and some very sad scenes too, sewing Mike desperately trying to put something together to compete with Apple was quite tragic, after doing all of the ground work, the tide literally turned overnight.

Glenn Howerton gives a show stealing performance as Jim, he's angry, he's short tempered, he wants things done yesterday, he's a high powered, highly motivated executive, dealing with a team who live life to the chill, what a strong performance, that scene where Jim realises that the game is up, fantastic.

The whole cast are excellent, Jay Baruchel and Matt Johnson were both great. Seeing Mike change over time, that was skilfully done.

I was surprised by how good this was.

8/10.

Greetings again from the darkness. There aren't too many companies who have reached the pinnacle of their industry, only to later flop due to lack of innovation or a stubborn insistence on holding on to the past. Tremendous success and absolute failure are not typically associated with the same company. Blockbuster Video and Pan Am Airlines come to mind as examples of industry leaders whose refusal to adapt, culminated with closure, and it's likely that Blackberry belongs in the category, at least as presented here by writer-director Matt Johnson and co-writer Matthew Miller, adapting the book by Jacquie McNish.

Socially awkward pals, Mike Lazaridis (played by Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (played by the film's director Matt Johnson), co-founded Research in Motion (RIM). The film picks up in 1996 when Mike and Doug are making their first presentation of their breakthrough handheld data delivery-email machine, which they have named Pocket Link. These are two genius nerds with no concept of how the outside business worlds functions, and the executive to whom they are pitching is so distracted that his only feedback is, "You need a new name." In a fascinating twist, that same executive, Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") ends up saving not just the new product, but also the company.

Balsillie presents himself as a fireball, take charge, full-steam-ahead kind of guy. It's quite a contrast to nerdy Mike and easy-going Doug. Mike is a quiet guy committed to perfection in his work, while Doug wrangles the tech developers with a culture of video games, movie night, and an overall fraternity environment. Balsillie's arrival as a vocal outrage expert and brash businessman changes everything, and he and Mike drive the newly named BlackBerry to levels not previously seen. We do get a humorous anecdote from a shirt stain (even though it's not a true story), and in fact, there is quite a bit of humor throughout.

We are informed that the film was "inspired by real people and real events", so some dramatic license is expected. Perhaps the best comparison is THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010), and while that film was more polished, I personally found this one more entertaining and accurate from a business sense. An excellent supporting cast includes Cary Elwes, Saul Rubinek, Michael Ironside, Martin Donovan, Rich Sommer, and SungWon Cho, and the film's real draw is the contrast between Jay Baruchel's mousy but brilliant Mike, and Glenn Howard's powerhouse portrayal of the egotistical Balsillie. Baruchel's scene where he reacts to the new iPhone is alone worth the price of admission.

At its peak, BlackBerry had 45% market share and had earned it's "CrackBerry" label in the business world. Apple's 2007 introduction of the iPhone not only rocked the BlackBerry company, it shook up the world. The Canada perspective is noted (RIM was based in Waterloo, Ontario), as is Mike's aversion to 'made in China', perhaps the ultimate reason for the fall. It's likely that BlackBerry has become a Case Study in Business Schools, although the fast-paced and pressure-packed world of tech continues to require a balance of decisions focused on current markets and never-ending innovation for the future.

Opens on May 12, 2023.

BlackBerry is a 2023 film that tells the story of the rise and fall of the BlackBerry smartphone. The film is funny, heartwarming, and ultimately tragic.

The film is funny because it captures the quirks and eccentricities of the people who made BlackBerry a success. Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie are two brilliant but irritable men who are determined to make their company a success. They are constantly bickering and arguing.

The film is also heartwarming because it shows the passion and dedication of the people who worked at BlackBerry. They were all committed to making the best possible product, and they were willing to work long hours and make sacrifices to achieve their goals.

However, the film is ultimately tragic because it shows how BlackBerry was unable to adapt to the changing marketplace. The company was slow to innovate, and it was eventually overtaken by Apple and Samsung.

Despite its tragic ending, BlackBerry is a well-made film that is sure to entertain and enlighten audiences. The film is funny, heartwarming, and thought-provoking. It is a must-see for anyone who is interested in the history of technology or the human condition.

Doug is the real winner in BlackBerry because he is the only one who is able to see the writing on the wall. He knows that BlackBerry is in trouble, and he tries to warn Mike and Jim. However, they are too blinded by their own success to listen. Doug is eventually forced to leave the company, but he is able to start his own successful business.

BlackBerry is a cautionary tale about the dangers of hubris. It is a reminder that even the most successful companies can fall from grace if they are not willing to adapt to change.

It's a dark comedy of sorts. Not fully dark, but well done all around. Casting was great, especially Glen Howerton as the maniac CEO. Plays the part well, couldn't help but laugh at certain scenes because he's just like angry Dennis from Always Sunny.

It's a cool story too, about the rise and epic fall of the CrackBerry. If you're a bit older you'll remember well when the iPhone came out and destroyed the entire industry. I didn't know some of the things that happen besides that, so learned something too.

Overall it's a fast paced, fun little ride. It's a little too long and there's some poor character acting from the "geek coders", that's overwrought, but doesn't really impact the overall film. I already recommended to my buddy. 6.7/10.

I really enjoyed this film even if it lacks veracity according to some viewers. I don't know what happened specifically as the new century began, but I do know that my friend Phil stopped using a pencil to take notes. Instead, out came the stylus and his Blackberry. They were everywhere and I felt like a neanderthal because I didn't have one. The portrayal of Nerd Central was quite funny and I got a kick out of their childish behavior. At first it was rather distracting. Then we got to see what amazing technicians they were. But they were eventually victimized by the lack of vision of their bosses. Also, money really talks and the competition is roiling around them the whole time and they aren't cognizant of some of it. This is a sleeper and well worth the time.

Once upon a time Blackberry dominated the business phone market, especially in the US, while Motorola dominated the personal phone market, and Nokia the international market. Along came the iPhone and pushed them off the, with none of these companies adapting well to the introduction of the iPhone given that it was only projected to take 5% of worldwide phone sales initially and many people questioned that it would do that.

But this movie doesn't tell this story. Instead it crams complex engineering and corporate development stories into little vignettes, ignores the many much more popular options to the iPhone, acts like everyone knew the iPhone was going to overtake the the world. Then ultimately fails to tell the story of the inability to adapt. In fact Nokia had been providing phones with Internet and downloadable apps years before the iPhone, but only the Japanese were really smart enough to do that.

But what they fail to tell us about the failure to adapt is that it impacted on everyone. For Blackberry, they would have had to redevelop their product from scratch and it was too inflexible. While Nokia failed to adapt from management, Blackberry just wasn't able to adapt. Even trying to move their secure email platform from hardware to software so it could become an iPhone app proved impossible.

It is okay, this movie is entertaining enough, though starts off slow, fails to introduce or build the key characters at the beginning, and the ending is too forced.

Could have been a good series or a better shorter movie. Especially given the camera style and content, it is not worth seeing in the movie theatre.

Watching these movies about the crazy cutthroat businesses of the 80s and 90s is very entertaining. This movie was great, well acted, fast paced and fun throughout. I myself grew up during the time of the Blackberry but didn't know anything about their story, so this was a fascinating look into how crazy the tech world was at the time.

The real gem of the entire movie though was the Golden God himself, Glen Howerton. I've been a fan of Always Sunmy and I'm always interested in what the cast does outside of that show. I havnt seen Glen in a serious role yet but he delivered. In Always Sunny Glen plays a sociopath who is constantly getting angry, you could tell that in Blackberry he was able to use that for his character. Glen was by far the best part of this movie, funny and intimidating all at the same time.

Reel Tunez, The Radio Show All About the Movies review (5/29/23): "Blackberry"

If you like historic movies about technology.. movies that feel like a documentary or History Channel movie... then this is for you.

This is the true story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone. At one time, 45% of the smart phones in use where Blackberry.. and now is about 0%.

Either the people at this company were the biggest nerds ever.. and goofballs.. or the movie was highly exaggerated. Lead actors were Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerto, & Matt Johnson (who really, in my opinion, was cartoonish in his acting). It was fun to see Cary Elwes in this as well. You remember him from "The Princess Bride" as Westley.

Visually, this movie is fine on a TV screen at home as it lacks "big screen appeal". Audio is fine on a home TV or stereo (as even that doesn't merit the quality of Dolby Theater sound).

A dry movie that could be "tightened up" with better editing (some scenes were "beating the dead horse" over and over and dredged on. On a 1 to 10 scale with 10 being the best, I'd give it about a 5.5. I consider anything over a 5 having some merit to see.. and less that 5 is a waste of time. In my opinion the reviews are greatly over-rating this movie. When people rate something like this a 9 or 10, you really wonder what a REAL classic movie would rate??

Aside from the constant annoying fast zoom-ins and shaky cam "The Office" style filming - which I can't stand, this was one heck of an enjoyable film. The two hour runtime flew by with the excellent pacing and the smooth cohesive and well-written screenplay. Jay Baruchel nailed his character with an all around great performance, as did Glenn Howerton. For that matter, all casting and performances were spot on, as was the cinematography and score. The story was mind-blowing, even if you never owned a BlackBerry, just to see a slice of Steve Jobs as the Canadian version of a small start-up becoming a world dominating tech empire, and that empire's fall from grace.

This is the story of the rise and (the beginning of) the fall of Research in Motion, maker of the Blackberry. It shows the hothouse atmosphere of technology sales, by co-CEO Jim Balsille, who took over the business end, and sold machine that did not yet exist. It also shows the equally busy atmosphere of the developers, like lead developer and co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, and various other young folks, many of whom tended to give off a frat boy vibe.

It was informative, and I hope mostly true overall. The actors were believable in their roles. The hubris of dismissing the iphone, the distraction of Balisille chasing an NHL franchise, and the false economy of contracting out manufacturing all contributed to the demise of the company.

However, I got dizzy. Maybe the director wanted to emphasize the chaos, by having the camera repeatedly pan quickly left or right, to create a sense of motion,, but that did not sit well with me. So you are warned.

Without knowing the history of Blackberry, outside its spectacular crash, I found this movie very entertaining and informative. It's not a documentary, so everything needs to be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. That being said, there were many parts of the Blackberry story, including Research in Motions technical innovations that predated the iPhone by almost a decade.

Jay Barucshel and Matthew Johnson were both wonderful in a corporate Ying-and-Yang relationship, though Johnson steals the show with his irreverence and comedy. Glenn Howerton was a bit disarming as corporate tough guy Jim Balsille. Together, the three drive the story from its lowest points to its dizzying heights.

Overall a fun entertaining picture, that may not be completely accurate, but for those who don't know the details, it won't detract from the story.

They dug this one from its grave long side the phone itself. Yeah.... I remember those phones. Once upon a time, before iPhone was also known as an automatic correction inside Word spreadsheet there where high-tech phones with a small keypad and they were cool and popular.

The ones that had Blackberry held a kind of status identifier, which help to divide the simple cellular phones users and the one that can make other things with it. We all know that this story ends at some point. No one is using Blackberry these days - so it is a movie with a known ending and far more; its written inside the poster. We all know that the fall is coming, so we can sit back, relax and enjoy another "rise and fall" movie.

Don't know which of the facts that are introduced in the films are true and which one are fictional, but it works terrific. The clash between mega geeks and a business shark is sometimes heartful to watch, but it is a classic story of evolving from a nice silent genius to running an empire, get lost and loosing your way during the process.

The story is totally compelling and the execution is perfect. Cannot say the movie gave me time or reasons to bond with most of the characters, but I totally got it and the story stuck so well, I didn't have to find myself invested inside the stories of the protagonist or the antagonist of the film.

A fun and educating ride, which you want to tag along one minute after reading the plot and movie name.

Despite all the rave reviews, for me this film was mediocre at best. The characters were one-dimensional, the actors did a lot of scenery chewing without generating much interest in the story, the script was facile and superficial, the camera work was typical of low-budget productions with lots of protracted jerky hand-held shots. Ultimately, I found it difficult to empathize with any of the characters (I could never get past the thought that I was watching actors), and eventually I lost interest in the outcome altogether. Which is a shame actually, because there is a fascinating story buried in this misfire. Better attention to the script and casting, and better production values, might have helped. But I think this is one instance where a well-made documentary, with interviews, archival footage, etc. Might be a better way to tell the story.

"BlackBerry," starring Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel, is a compelling portrayal of a tech giant's rise and struggles. Howerton and Baruchel excel in their roles, bringing a remarkable depth and realism to their characters. Their acting stands as a highlight in a film marred by a slow pace and a narrative that can often be confusing.

The film's treatment of crucial plot points feels rushed, glossing over significant events and leaving the audience wanting more. Particularly, it misses the opportunity to delve deeply into the seismic shift caused by the iPhone's emergence, a pivotal moment in tech history that deserved more attention.

Moreover, an intriguing subplot, which is only briefly touched upon, is Jim Balsillie's audacious but ultimately failed attempt to purchase the Pittsburgh Penguins. This episode alone could have been a riveting storyline, deserving of its own cinematic exploration. It's a missed opportunity that could have added an exciting dimension to the film.

In summary, "BlackBerry" earns a 6 out of 10. It's a film with exceptional acting and a fascinating subject but falls short in pacing and narrative clarity, and it doesn't fully capture the dramatic impact of its real-life events.

Films about the making of a product can either be interesting or dull. In my opinion, there's not a lot of room in between because it was either a good story or not. In the case of Blackberry, I was obviously aware of the phone but never knew the behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm also slightly biased being a Canadian, with this film taking place very close to where I'm from, so if that makes you take this review with a grain of salt, so be it. I absolutely loved it from start to finish and here's why.

Blackberry tells the story of Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and his genius mind that creates the world's first smartphone, the Blackberry.

Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) steps in and buys his way into being the Co-CEO of the company in order to sell the phone. Balsillie is determined to shoot for the moon and nothing else, which in turn may or may not hurt the company overall. If you know the story, you know what I mean, but I won't ruin it. My favourite thing about watching this film though was the fact that I didn't know half of what went down in real life. This was a riveting and engaging lesson of school that I felt like a sat through.

Adapted from the novel by Matthew Miller and Matt Johnson (who also did a fantastic job directing this film), the dialogue here was stellar. I was glued to the screen, even when two characters were just sitting in a room and talking. I'm not saying this film is as great as The Social Network, but the story itself is in my opinion. It's a fascinating tale of the dog-eat-dog world that we live in. On top of the fantastic dialogue, Baruchel and Howerton sell these roles and probably each delivers the performances of their careers (especially Howerton).

From the editing style that genuinely impressed me to the great direction, performances, and even music choices, Blackberry is a film that I have little to no complaints about. The camera work with all the snap zooms annoyed me a bit, but that's really all I can nitpick. I also give it props for being a Canadian film, made by Canadians, starring some Canadian actors. I would also be remiss if I didn't mention the fact that while the story is very interesting, it's also funny when it needs to be. It almost becomes a satire at times and I loved it even more for that. It took the story seriously, but not exactly the movie around it, which worked so well. If you can't tell, I'll be gushing about this one for a while. I highly recommend checking out Blackberry, now playing in theatres.

I mean you knew from the get go this wasn't going to be Oscar-winning film making at its best. An actor that clearly has shaved his head to look balding and someone with a ridiculous grey wig. They stand out like sore thumbs.

Then all the clichés that you can throw at a movie like this: geeks are introverted and can't talk properly. Geeks play computer games. Geeks like Star Trek. Geeks are geeky geeky geek geeks.

Similarly men in suits are evil, but they do make money! And while a Canadian story it's the American Dream right, rags to riches?

And it's not 100% wrong, just so exaggerated.

And you can't have an origin movie without some daft scenes about how the name came to be.

That said, it's an entertaining watch and the time flew by. It's also fanciful in its facts but it does remind us that Blackberry had such a short life. It was so omnipresent that it seems almost impossible now.

Detach brain, watch, enjoy!

There happen to be three movies out right now telling the story behind a piece of 1980s pop culture. "Air" is about the founding of the Air Jordan brand at Nike; "Tetris" is about the battle over licensing for one of the most famous games in history; and "Blackberry" is about the mega-success and eventual obsoletion of a piece of technology that was undermined by Apple.

Of the three, "Blackberry" is the best. Sharp writing and direction from Matt Johnson, who also happens to turn in a terrific performance as the moral conscience of the company behind the famous hand-held device, turns this movie into a juicy and intensely entertaining story about corporate ego and competing visions. Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton also give outstanding performances, and the whole thing makes for one of the most entertaining movies I've seen yet this year.

And even though I've been using an iPhone for years, nothing has made me appreciate the brilliance of Steve Jobs' invention as much as this movie, which shows why it absolutely blew the Blackberry out of the water.

Grade: A.

There's a rather angry man by name of Jim, expecting others to dance to, his latest whim, can get quite shouty if confronted, he'll ensure you are affronted, has a fury that can't be contained by rim. But he's managed to create a new black gold, taking gullible and naïve to a mould, casting out a new tech giant, though it's not quite all compliant, the board of keys has broken ground, and taken hold. Alas like all technology there is a trend, and in this case it's closely linked to a u-bend, as the stock goes down the pan, the innovation had no plan, to evolve and to compete, as Jobs transcends.

It's worth a watch, and may get you thinking of all those brands of the past that now reside in the graveyard of complacent, missed opportunity.

Between this, Air, and Tetris, I think this one takes the cake. The central performances (Jay Baruchel & Glenn Howerton) are fantastic, and both manage to captivate us with their distinct mannerisms and quirks. The story itself is very compellingly told, with details covered from multiple angles, including business, tech, marketing, employee relations, and more. There's no question that Hollywood loves discussing corporate wins and losses (well, mostly wins) and BlackBerry is certainly among the finest I've seen. Howerton (playing Jim Balsillie) is at his best when he loses his cool, throwing temper tantrums at almost everyone, including contemporaries, executives, and even private jet pilots. The rise and fall of BlackBerry was always going to be an exciting story, and director Matt Johnson does an excellent job with the material in hand.

Matt Johnson's rather John McEnroe-esque "Doug" rather stole this tale of what was literally a tech-tonic shift in how we used our mobile phones. He, together with his boss Mike (Jay Baruchel), has been working with a small team of geeks to develop a mobile word processor that can send messages by text and email. It's funding they lack and it's during a fairly flawed presentation that they encounter "Jim" (Glenn Howerton), a savvy operator who knows just enough about the business to get them that elusive big deal. Thing is, they don't think they have the processing capacity to service this ever increasing share of the market even if their new pal is generating eye-watering business opportunities. A 46% market share of what became the exponentially burgeoning smartphone market offered them real potential to dominate for years - but history tells us just what did happen. This film benefits from not really having a big star at the helm. The three men juggle the pressures, successes and failures delivering a solid and at times quite funny story of the rise and falls of a company that, when faced with difficulties, resorted to an emergency movie night! It doesn't shy away from depicting some of the sharper practices at play in this supremely competitive business, but it delivers in a far less aggressive fashion. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but I found myself actually wanting them to succeed (even if I actually ended up loathing my own "Crackberry"). So many of these true stories are based on characters seeking easy money - this is based on a pair of guys who actually made something; and something that set a benchmark for kit we all use across the world without a second thought nowadays. Enjoyable to watch and worth two hours of your time.

The phone was nicknamed "Crackberry" - due to its addictive quality ... (an omen of the future of smartphones). Here, people loved the clicking of the mini keyboard and the blinking "new messages" light. It was the rage of Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies government leaders and had dedicated fans ranging from Obama to Katy Perry to Kim Kardashian.

It was with this fascination that I watched "Blackberry". I wanted to know how did all of this get started and by whom? Well, the movie didn't disappoint - I'd have never guessed the people behind it and wild ride they had.

The story is brisk and the characters have radically different personalities. The latter made it interesting given that they all thrown together in an increasingly high-pressure environment. My favorite character was the comic-sidekick Doug Fregin (cofounder) - he reminds me of Jonah Hill. It also turns out that he's the co-writer and director of the film itself.

One thing I didn't immediately recognize was that the tech wiz / boy-wonder (Mike Lazaridis) was played by Jay Baruchel. He was the voice behind the lead character in How to Train Your Dragon. It was perfect casting.

Blackberry is definitely worth a watch if the subject matter interests you. It's yet another movie demonstrating that real-life events can be just as captivating as pure fiction itself. It joins the ranks of other great tech stories inspired by true events: The Dropout (Theranos / Elizabeth Holmes), We Crashed (WeWork), Super Pumped (Uber), and Tetris (the game).

Hollywood, bereft of any originality, is scraping the barrel of semi-interesting "nostalgia" products/ fads to use to churn a halfhearted film out, see Tetris, Air, Dungeons and Dragons, etc.

Technically there is nothing too wrong with this film. Things happen, there's some jokes, and it tells a story. However, the whole affair feels soulless. There's nothing new here - unruly nerds out of water in a corporate world; some corporate backstabbing etc. Etc.

This is a generic film that has likely been made because something had to be. You'll watch it, be mildly entertained, and then forget about it for the rest of your life.

It's a movie about the quick rise and sudden fall of Research in Motion, the Canadian company which invented the Smart Phone, Told as a sequences of crises, its two main players are Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis, an obsessive-compulsive wimp who actually knows what he is talking about when it comes to building computers, and Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie, a loud-mouthed businessman with a degree from Harvard, who recognizes that, and is happy to bs his way through everything. At its peak, the company had a market capitalization of almost $70 billion dollars. Then Steve Job came in and did the same thing in a package that was better designed and offered telephone companies not just user minutes, but data transfer, and it all went away overnight -- according to this movie, anyway.

There's no one to root for here, with the engineers, as Michael Ironside, the shouty man brought in to bring some discipline to the company notes, a bunch of children, Howerton thoroughly unlikable, and so forth. Cary Elwes has a sizable role as a smarmy competitor.

Like many movies about business, this one is pretty shaky with the facts. Likewise, other than "don't think you're irreplaceable" there doesn't seem to be much of a point to this movie. It's largely carried on the noisy performances, with Howerton's increasingly out-of-control Balsillie pretty interesting, if annoying.

We liked this film a lot. It is a very interesting story that helps remind us about the creation of the smart phone and the battles for the best product, network speed, interface and the bitter battles that ensued. If you are involved in marketing, technology, sales or business--you may see a lot of truth here and a few big warnings about how humans get in the way of themselves and the right decisions. I liked the film and learned a lot from its narrative and warnings of business decision-making, personal egos, management styles, and all the things you can do wrong (or right.) The iPhone crushed BlackBerry--BUT they crushed themselves in how they responded to Apple. The movie helps you realize how amazing Apple is in our world. OK. Here are a few notes for folks who watched the film AND hopefully a few folks who made the film. The acting is good, but a bit TOO much like a Hallmark (or any TV movie). The corporate executive, Jim is so mean, negative and ego-centric that you almost lose any interest in him. I know people like him, but they really painted him too thin and angry to believe. He's a cartoonishly corporate. Always in a suit and trying to get ahead by being a mean person--but we never know why or who he really is. Then, there is Mike, the brains of RIM. He's interesting too and rather believable. I know people like him, but again, the writer and director failed to give us a "why" about Mike. His transition during the film is interesting and his character is the center of the lesson here. His friend, Doug is very funny. The last complaint is that the filming is WAY too much like the Office. Jumpy camera angles do not make it feel real, just cheap. Sorry director. 8/10 is pretty good for a semi-bio flick about technology. Worth a watch--but the writer and director missed the mark on making this a 9 or a 10, which it could have been.