Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
Two mismatched entrepreneurs – egghead innovator Mike Lazaridis and cut-throat businessman Jim Balsillie – joined forces in an endeavour that was to become a worldwide hit in little more than a decade. The story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone.
BlackBerry is a sharp, well-acted rise-and-fall tech saga that benefits enormously from Glenn Howerton's ferocious performance as Jim Balsillie and Jay Baruchel's nerdy sincerity as Lazaridis. The ensemble work is consistently strong, earning a genuine 4 for Acting. The plot follows a fairly familiar corporate trajectory — hubris, success, catastrophic collapse — competently executed but not reinvented, landing at 3. Director Matt Johnson shoots with a scrappy, mockumentary-adjacent energy that gives the film personality without being cinematically distinctive. Novelty sits at 3: the Canadian tech world setting and specific cultural milieu are refreshing, but the rise-and-fall biopic form is well-worn. The ending, while historically faithful and appropriately deflating, doesn't pack the dramatic punch that might elevate it beyond serviceable — a solid 3.