It unfairly bombed at the box office, and I can’t explain why, because this true story of the misfit nerds who invented and marketed the Blackberry, is funny, exciting, and poignant.
It’s a bit like Bill Gates meets Steve Wozniak meets Steve Jobs- the latter crushed the Blackberry’s existence with a little device called an iPhone. Maybe you’ve heard of it? The comparatively quaint palm device went from 45% of the market to 0%. There were just too many hurdles and business trickery involved.
Jay Baruchel (Tropic Thunder, Knocked Up) has played a stable full of funny goofballs, but in this one, the Canadian actor is virtually unrecognizable. Baruchel plays Mike Lazaridis, the prematurely gray genius who is perpetually lost in his thoughts – he’s the serious one among the nerds who are busy in the office watching movies and playing catch.
The film doesn’t ridicule its main characters, but it isn’t afraid to laugh at them, giving us some chuckles to temper the shark tank that they are going to find themselves in.
Alas, Blackberry the film earned an unfairly paltry 1.5 million upon its theatrical release last May. I’m just now watching it because I am seriously considering voting for Baruchel among my Best Actor nominees for the Critics Choice awards– he’s that good.
The good news? You can watch it at home on streaming platforms. I highly recommend that you give it a shot.
