'BlackBerry' entertains, lacks staying power
IFC Films
Of course it’s not “The Social Network.” “BlackBerry” couldn’t possibly rival David Fincher’s classic, horrifyingly defeated in the Best Picture and Director categories by “The King’s Speech” and, more importantly, perfectly representing the sleek, addictive, and emotionally complicated nature of its subject matter.
The new film, directed and co-written by co-star Matt Johnson about the once-ubiquitous, now-disposed smartphone, occasionally achieves the desired crackle. Inventor/brains of the company Mike (Jay Baruchel) and his friend who doesn’t seem to do anything Doug (Johnson) have brought on ruthless sales whiz Jim (Glenn Howerton) to market a device they originally dub the PocketLink, and the skyrocketing outcome is a stark contrast from the rickety origins. The fictionalized “BlackBerry” convincingly demonstrates the handmade, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada-based beginnings of a product that, for a while, became a legit phenomenon, despite the fact that, apparently, its business operation was at best immature and at worst fraudulent.
Attempting to do three things at once, Johnson succeeds best as director, eliciting terrific work from Howerton (replicating Dennis’ anger from “It’s Always Sunny” but without the pathetic undercurrent) and Baruchel (deserving of lead roles better than “She’s Out of My League”) and establishing an appealing and appropriate DIY feel despite numerous intelligent compositions. As an actor, though, Johnson’s a nuisance (even if the character is meant to be kinda annoying, Doug really is nothing but a naysayer, and I was always glad when he was gone), and the script establishes lots of conflict and tension but little depth or detail. The film is loaded with minimally identified supporting characters whose roles in BlackBerry remain mostly undefined, and too much of the short- and long-term functioning of the business (from the creation of the name to the personal lives of its leaders and much in between) is unaddressed. “BlackBerry” seems more focused on the titles of its presentation slides than the content within them.
Nevertheless, as moral goalposts shift and a product that rhymes with criPhone arrives, “BlackBerry” charts not the curve of a company’s development and fading but a steep ascent into a freefall. If the film didn’t succumb to the same intellectual stagnation as its characters, the story might have felt rich and discussion-worthy rather than frozen in time.
B-
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