Stories about historic figures have always been ripe for a big screen adaptation, but what of those who exist on the fringes of history? The nearly men?
Once upon a time, the Blackberry was on the bleeding edge of mobile phone innovation, and writer/director/star Matt Johnson deftly navigates the dizzying highs of the Blackberry boom and the catastrophic lows.
Matt Johnson is one of the best-kept secrets among cinema fans, with his 2016 thriller Operation Avalanche serving as a calling card for Johnson, and he has made the leap to a slick Hollywood-style movie with ease.
Blackberry tells the story of the man who built the phone (Jay Baruchel) and the man who sold it (Glenn Howerton), and the leading men give career-best performances in the process.
The trick to Johnson’s style is deploying an Office or Succession-style of directing, letting viewers feel like they are an invisible observer to the proceedings, and it is remarkable how Johnson manages to make the camera an unseen character.
The direction of Blackberry is not too dissimilar to Penelope Sphreeis’ direction on the first Wayne’s World film, with the film being shot in a nearly documentary-like style making it even funnier when something absurd happens or is said.
Blackberry is about 2 degrees off-kilter from the conventional Hollywood film, and it’s all the better for it.
There is an awful lot to recommend with Blackberry, from the top-notch performances, the genuinely laugh-out-loud comedy and the hip indie rock soundtrack, but the genius of the film lies in inevitability.
As anyone reading this knows, Blackberry was the king of the mobile phone market once upon a time, and the iPhone essentially changed the world as we knew it when it launched in 2007.
Even when you know in your own mind about the fate that befalls Blackberry in real life, Johnson manages to play with audience expectations that somehow, the characters will be able to work it out, similar to the recent Dumb Money.
When the Blackberry brand is riding high, there is a giddy and punk energy to the film, bringing to mind films like The Social Network, and when the film takes a shift in the second half to more serious fare, it feels fully earned.
In the first half of the film where the team behind the phone are geeky 20-something video game obsessives bonding over 80s movies, you feel like you are right there with them.
In the back half of the film, where you can see the house of cards collapse before your very eyes, you feel a pang in your stomach knowing how it ends.
Blackberry has a fantastic script, but the performances really bring it to life, with Baruchel, so often underappreciated for his versatility, and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton giving the best performances of their careers.
The supporting cast is full of great character actors, with Michael Ironside nearly stealing the film as a Rip Torn in The Larry Sanders Show style aloof, giant bruiser and Saul Rubinek putting relish on a biting boardroom executive role.
Writer and director Matt Johnson stars in his own projects, and in his role in the film, he becomes something of an audience surrogate, the guy you want to root for.
It is remarkable seeing a googly-eyed and frantic comedic actor go toe-to-toe with Baruchel and Howerton in his scenes, and emerging as the victor.
As Baruchel becomes more corporate and loses the droll, nerdy energy that punctuates the early parts of the film, Johnson is there to remind him why he got into the industry to begin with.
Johnson’s character is somewhat out of his depth in high-stakes business negotiations, and often puts his foot in his mouth, but his endearing quality quickly makes him the heart of the film.
A film about the rise and fall of Blackberry doesn’t sound like a recipe for comedic gold, but the desert dry and droll script has many lines that will have the audience rolling in the aisles, and It’s Always Sunny fans will be delighted to read that Howerton gets more than a few classic Dennis Reynolds-esque eruptions.
Blackberry is one of those rare gems of a film that come along every once in a while that reaffirms your faith in cinema, and this wonderfully chaotic shot of nerdiness is the perfect answer to the hyper-bloated franchises that dominate our multiplexes.
A film like Blackberry should be championed and adored by anyone with even a passing interest in cinema, and while it will probably be a tad too left-of-centre for the Oscars, Blackberry is one of the very best films of the year.