User Reviews

I’ve seen a few Canadian movies, but this is definitely the best one ever (lol). I really liked Jim’s aggressive personality. Obviously, someone like that probably wouldn’t have survived in the cutthroat world of business. Back in my younger days, my boss used to proudly show off his BlackBerry. Now that it’s 2026, I wonder where you can even find a BlackBerry these days? Maybe on eBay? Anyway, it was a great movie.

The film tells the story of BlackBerry's meteoric rise to market leadership in mobile phones, culminating in its inevitable fall into obscurity. Anyone who has ever owned a BlackBerry knows that it wasn't just a mobile phone, but a status symbol for businesspeople. BlackBerry vividly illustrates how fast-paced our times have become in terms of technology. Matt Johnson's film conveys this powerfully and is highly entertaining. This is primarily because the encounter between a group of tech enthusiasts and the cutthroat world of business and its key players is sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always enriching. A truly successful and worthwhile film.

By all accounts, the characters aren’t particularly accurate representations of their real life counterparts, but this is a still a relatively interesting story and it’s well told here.

Awesome to see BlackBerry get some recognition as the grandfather of smartphones, this movie shows the rise & fall of BlackBerry, might not sound too interesting but I enjoyed this more than The Social Network or Jobs. I did a fact check after the movie & most of what they showed was accurate besides the exaggeration of some people's personalities which is common when real things make it to the big screen for entertainment. Overall, an accurate & neat movie about real people & incidents.

A surprisingly good film covering the rise and fall of the blackberry brand. I didn't expect to be so entertained by something that sounded so boring! It's very well acted and has a surprisingly good script. Unfortunately it's confirmed that some of it has been embellished a bit. If you like this film then give the film Air a go.

Combining drama and comedy, it was a fairly accurate means of how to launch a brilliant idea and what not to do to make it founder. Without fanfare, it entertains enough without resorting to great actors.

Howerton is really really good. As is, Jay B. and the dude who played Doug (the winner of all of this). I think this would have been better as a 6-7 part series as it feels a bit quick in a few moments ... the ending wraps up very fast.

With the release of such innovative communications products as the Apple and Android smartphones, questions began to circulate about the future viability of onetime market leader BlackBerry, a line of devices that subsequently went into rapid decline. Ironically, that real-life business world narrative itself raises comparable questions about the viability of a movie that tells the BlackBerry story. Nevertheless, writer-director Matt Johnson’s third feature outing brings the ill-fated account of the rise and fall of this Canadian-made smartphone company in the global telecommunications marketplace. Seeing how the company was run, however, it probably shouldn’t come as any surprise why it ultimately failed – shady financial management, ego-driven unbridled greed, undisciplined employees and constant managerial scrambling to remain competitive, despite some surprisingly savvy marketing aimed at making the BlackBerry an enviable status symbol, especially among business clients. But is this kind of material really sufficiently engaging for a feature film? I sure don’t think so, especially since it’s about a company and product that ultimately flopped. It’s a cinematic exercise akin to “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” (1971) trying to take on Silicon Valley giants. The film also gets exceedingly technical at times, making for a film that cyber nerds may find awesomely cool but that casual viewers are likely to see as tedious and confusing. And, by the picture’s second half, with the handwriting on the wall and the parade of unending snafus continuing, it’s difficult to maintain interest in how events unfold and eventually play out. To its credit, this release features some fine performances, most notably by Saul Rubinek, Michael Ironside and Independent Spirit Award nominee Glenn Howerton, as well as an excellent and often-ironic soundtrack. However, in a larger sense, “BlackBerry” also represents a somewhat disconcerting trend in movies that’s gaining traction – films based on the back stories of products and businesses. Besides this offering, 2023 also saw the release of films about sneakers (“Air”), videogame retailing (“Dumb Money”) and even snack foods (“Flamin’ Hot”). While there’s nothing inherently wrong with pictures about business and commerce, these offerings are innately little more than two-hour feature-length commercials for their wares. Indeed, are these commodities becoming our new screen idols? It calls to mind actor Paul Newman’s observation years ago about the emergence of a robot and a shark becoming our new movie icons, but, as different as they were, even they weren’t as shamelessly commercial as these new contenders are. Releases like this should indeed give us all pause to think about what kinds of movies we want to plunk down our hard-earned money to watch.

Really enjoyed this movie. Debated between a 7 or 8 rating. Great performances. Loved the soundtrack. Really fun movie. Made me look forward to going work the next day.

Tendo como escola o excelente "A rede social" do David Fincher, esta produção canadense narra a ascensão e queda da empresa "Blackberry", responsável por criar o primeiro smartphone do mundo, com aparelhos portáteis que permitiam envio de mensagens (a maioria em estilo corporativo) mas que não sobreviveu ao "boom" dos iphones. A câmera meio tremida vai acompanhar a vida dos amigos Doug e Mike, que embora gerenciem uma pequena empresa de tecnologia (contratando arquétipos de jovens nerds, num ambiente totalmente descontraído), não levam o menor trato para os negócios, o que foi uma porta de entrada para o administrado ganancioso "Jim Balsillie" alavancar os negócios a partir do momento em que tornou-se sócio da empresa. Enquanto em "A rede social" o foco é na sua narrativa permeada por diálogos afiados, explorando temas como amizade, traição, sucesso e ética nos negócios, em "Blackberry" seguimos a mesma linha, mas com uma notável acentuação nos negócios mesmo. Note, por exemplo, como o roteiro dá ênfase ao modelo de negócio, à fase da abertura da empresa na bolsa, à sua estrondosa mudança estrutural e gerenciamento. É uma aula sobre "Adminsitração gerencial" em tempo de capitalismo de rede. Com isso, o desenvolvimento de alguns personagens secundários ficou meio prejudicado, mas isso não afeta o resultado. Aliás, o filme inteiro conta com personagens meio estereotipados, mas como há aqui um equilíbrio do texto e um roteiro que vai além da superfície do business, é como se esse "defeito" fosse compensado com um subtexto sempre interessante. A necessidade de empresas de tecnologia sempre estarem inovando é essencial em um ambiente de negócios dinâmico e altamente competitivo. Embora o tom seja sobre atender às expectativas do mercado e superar as demandas em constante evolução dos consumidores, sabemos que a justificativa real é manter a roda do sistema do capital, acumulador por excelência. Não à toa, Jim representa o tipo de CEO interessado em cifras, em vendas, desafiando a equipe a encontrar soluções a posteriori da tecnologia (por exemplo, na questão da venda de aparelhos ultrapassar a tecnologia suportada da rede naquele momento, exigindo inovações). Quando foi lançado em 2007, o iPhone revolucionou a indústria de smartphones. Introduziu uma interface de usuário intuitiva baseada em tela sensível ao toque, eliminou a necessidade de teclados físicos (que era uma marca do Blackberry), e combinou telefone, reprodutor de música e navegador da web em um único dispositivo. A Apple continuou a inovar com cada nova versão do iPhone, adicionando recursos como câmeras mais avançadas, reconhecimento facial, tecnologias de tela mais avançadas, entre outras. É bem provável que, num futuro próximo, venhamos a assistir a um filme sobre a ascensão e queda da Apple. E assim o mundo gira. É capitalismo, ****!

'The Social Network' meets 'The Office.' Of all the movies about brands or products that have come out in recent years, this is one of the best. 'Blackberry' replicates the "rise and fall" of a corporation formula; however, its intimate approach and almost mockumentary format make it stand out from the rest. The film is also elevated by its performances and memorable characters; of course, Glenn Howerton, representing all the vices of capitalism and toxic work culture, steals the spotlight with his performance. Matt Johnson, director, co-writer, and one of the protagonists, achieves an effective balance between drama and comedy, taking advantage of the crazy and tragic history behind the famous telephone. The film deserved more recognition during this awards season.

Howerton is great but the movie comes off as a bit of an over-exaggerated bore that never seems to get interesting.

(Mauro Lanari) Biopic about another generational tech gadget that plays on the nostalgia effect. This time the two CEOs did not die of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor while the filmmaker is suffering from Parkinson's. Nerds watch Carpenter's "They Live" (1988) without understanding anything and Matt Johnson adheres to the rules of Dogma 95 without explaining why.

I remember the time when BlackBerry ruled the world having taken over from Nokia who really didn’t get the smartphone. So I was intrigued how this would deal with the demise of the once mighty RIM. I found it entertaining & humorous in quite a few places. Once again it highlighted that if you’re rich enough it isn’t often that you serve jail time.

In my opinion one of the best movies of 2023 - it had the true story aspect (even though some of it added of course), it had comedic parts, great cast and everything, really enjoyed it all throughout.

Blackberry was engaging to say the least. The story is fine, but I though they skimmed very fast on the downfall of RIM. The movie follows a lot Mike and Jim. I was a bit frustrated they didn't show how Doug got out of RIM. The acting is superb. The production is somewhat low value, and I got annoyed by the shaking camera. But they did care about showing stuff from the early 2000. Music was average. I still give it 82% because of the strong acting in general, but I felt they closed the ending way too soon. At least it was very informative, because I didn't know anything about those peoples.

What starts as a dark comedy, becomes a grim drama by the end and that is great. This is an excellent telling of the rise and fall of Blackberry. The writing is fun and the story is engaging because of how crazy it is. The technical jargon is made to be easily understood. The performance by everyone is great even if it is very dramatized and over the top. The filming style with its weird snap zooms can be a bit odd but it does make it feel unique. A must-watch, for Canada's sake.

bad [ bad ] adjective, worse, worst;(Slang) bad·der, bad·dest for 36. not good in any manner or degree.

Glenn was very good. Liiiiit Jay = Method actor ? Ray william johnson ma goat. love that man. Im finna jerk it

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Cheap as chips is the movie. They have a few 2000s sets, but they're only little things. There are a few automobiles and a few offices displayed, but that is about it. Basically, a camera could accomplish anything better than anything else. How difficult is it to video a couple unrelated cars? The camera work is awful and incredibly sloppy. It feels like a poor theatre performance because the handheld camera is seldom steady and we frequently only see faces or individuals without much in the way of set design. It is a $5 million historical drama that looks like a $5 million drama. However, the general plot makes it work.

Far more engaging than a movie about a cell phone should be. Good cast, solid writing, competent direction.

Quality seemed awfully low to me and I didn't care for the fake doc jiggle of the camera. Performances were fine but the make-up success. **** all it looked pretty low-rent. I'm guessing the CEO was accurate, but having worked at a Fortune 500 company for 20 years, execs rarely yell like that or are overtly abusive. This guy was unbelievable. This just came off as a lowball Pirates of Silicon Valley. It was okay.

Glenn Howerton is an absolute star in Blackberry. His 15+ years of playing Dennis Reynolds on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia made him the perfect casting.

Godawful unrealistic dialogue tied to a cartoonish depiction of a true story.

BlackBerry, as the name indicates, is a film about the story of this line of mobile phones and joins the ongoing trend in recent years of making series and films about technology products and their creators. I recognize the style and pacing are much more relaxed than many other stories I've seen of this type, which is quite a nice change. It also blends humor with drama in similar measures, although its structure hints at where it draws certain influences from, because in the end, the story is one that feels very familiar even if you know little about what happened to the company when smartphones, especially the iPhone, took over the market. And there is no better known story in the world than that of an empire - in this case a technological one - that achieves success and then crumbles. Overall the film works quite well without anything extraordinary to mention, but I must say that out of the whole project if anyone should be singled out for having surprised me it is Jay Baruchel, because even beyond the changes in his appearance, for the first time in his entire career he showed that he has something more to demonstrate in what until now I considered his very limited repertoire. It's not the slickest film of its genre, but it's entertaining and compelling. That's good enough for what it is.

Entertaining and surprisingly insightful. As a computer geek, some great details, and the occasional ****

I really enjoyed it. If you are a fan of Silicon Valley and/or if you remember when Blackberries were everywhere, it's a fascinating and darkly comic story.

Went in with zero expectations and got something that I though was genuinely worth the watch.