Review: ‘BlackBerry Sounds Like Parody, But Its The Best Business Drama This Year
On paper, Matt Johnson's new historical drama Blackberry looks like a parody of modern ceramics
Comedians Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel star. Who orders a 2023 movie about an old smartphone? Why bother when we already have so many technological clicks?
But, surprisingly...it's actually pretty good. The threads are very strong and absurd, and the humor is appropriate, but not too silly. I would go so far as to say that this movie probably has the strongest structure of any drama released in recent times.
In 1996, Waterloo, Canada, computer engineers Mike Lazaridis (Baruchel) and Doug Fredon (Johnson) struggle to sell their new invention of cell phones and e-mail at half the price of their competitors. Entrepreneur Jim Balsillie (Howerton) suddenly offers to launch their product if he is appointed CEO of their small technology company, Research in Motion. Michael Ironside, Rich Sommer and Son Wang Cho are partners at RIM.
In ten years, their equipment went from a pipe dream to a major player. But like all good things, temptations come, especially in the gym.
Johnson has appeared in traditional tech biopics such as Martin Burke's Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) and David Fincher's The Social Network (2010). The first one kept coming to mind while watching Blackberry because it's one of my favorite movies.
What's interesting about this smartphone image is that it's actually a story of ups and downs rather than success. Unlike Windows, iPhone and Facebook, nobody uses BlackBerry anymore. They started going underground and only returned to it 13 years later.
I liked Baruchel's funny question. "Why would anyone have a smartphone without a keyboard?" As the owner of RIM, Howerton brings a seamless blend of power-hungry intelligence. And like Ben Affleck on Sky , I really love the pop culture montage.
I felt that Johnson went a little overboard with his heavy comedy roles like Blackberry III. I have a feeling the writer and director wanted Fredon's character to at least feel like RIM's Steve Wozniak in the movie. But he is often more hated than loved.
On both the Air and the Blackberry I was struck by how male-centric commercial/biographical dramas are. The only exception might be The Social Network , about Jesse Eisenberg trying to get revenge on Mark Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriend.
In this new film, there are usually only two women in the role of secretary or receptionist. Even the iconic "caring woman" of one of the characters. The men in this film are effectively stateless and 100% focused on their careers.
Yes, these stories are usually more male than female, but at some point in the story, there is some estrogen involved. Surely the filmmakers know they are setting themselves up for a failed Bechdel test by not immediately including any feminine words. Are they trying to argue that adding a love interest would be pointless and outdated?
Where are the tribal women? I'm not sure about the answer to this question, but if you like corporate drama, BlackBerry will do the trick.
