The Social Network transitioned the classic rise and fall story about power and capitalism to the modern age, showing how tech nerds were just as susceptible to those story arcs as newspapermen or business moguls. BlackBerry ups the ante by dragging in smartphones and the usually polite Canadians into the mix. Matt Johnson’s tale walks that timely/timeless timeline magnificently, delivering way better results than the Blackberry Storm in 2008.
For children, there was a time where the iPhone and Samsung didn’t dominate the smartphone industry. In the mid 1990s, a little Canadian Tech Firm Research In Motion (RIM) run by childhood best friends Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matt Johnson), came up with the idea of using a phone to do emails and calls at the same time. Equipped with the tech know how but zero business acumen, the pair terribly pitch their idea to Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton), a businessman frustrated that he cannot grow anymore in his current company. Blasillie laughs them out of the room, but eventually reconsiders, and joins forces with the tech guys to deliver the world a phone that can do it all: the BlackBerry.
BlackBerry is really the story about the rise and fall of 3 men: Mike Lazaridis, Doug Fregin, and Jim Balsillie. In the rise part, Johnson’s direction shows why the 3 needed each other: Doug is the creative carefree tech collaborator, Balsillie is the power hungry businessman willing to do anything to become important, and Mike is somewhere between the two of them, excited to build new things but also craving some sort of recognition for his genius. Johnson has a blast showing the buttoned up Balsillie bewildered by his new business partners laissez faire attitude towards work, slowly making them commit to simple things like wearing pants instead of shorts. Initially Johnson makes you think Balsillie is there to take advantage of these clear business novices, but after one incredible combined pitch the businessman sees his future is brighter if he collaborates with the “boys” and tries to make them into “men.” Doug is pretty content being a man child, but Mike is more malleable; Johnson in one shot shows us why Lazaridis is ready to give up “movie nights” in favor of devoting the rest of his life working on what he sees as his proof of his own genius. The trio’s collective understanding of their partnership leads to BlackBerry’s success, resulting at a point in the mid 2000s where they had 45% of the cell phone market in the US.
But like all classic stories about power, a rise is usually followed by a fall. In BlackBerry’s case, Pat Riley’s “disease of me” is the big reason, particularly for Mike and Jim. Over time, Balsillie is convinced his gigantic business has made him the most powerful man on Earth, so he starts directing more of his attention towards his real passion: the National Hockey League (Jim is Canadian, remember) and becoming a team owner. That attention takes Jim’s talents away from BlackBerry, and makes him more careless, which is never good when that much money is involved. Mike, riding the hubris of his great invention, decides that he can do it all, and starts picking up from Jim’s slack. But Mike doesn’t understand that he’s woefully unprepared to do what Jim does, spreading him thin and taking him away from what makes him special. And, the things Mike learns to do from Jim transform him into a person that make him unrecognizable to Doug and others who knew him growing up, pushing the friends farther away from each other. Credit goes to Johnson’s direction (and acting, his comedic charm is needed to balance the rest of the story) and his two big leads. Glenn Howerton powers Jim Balsillie with that DENNIS System energy from Always Sunny, constantly under stress and on the edge; he’s a revelation. But I don’t know if Jay Baruchel has ever been better. His Mike Lazaridis has the biggest Charles Foster Kane like arc in the movie, and Baruchel really delivers the slow evolution of someone transformed by power, money, and hubris to fascinating, chilling effects.
Man, the more things change, the more they stay the same. BlackBerry is yet another reminder to those desperate to get to power to take a breath as you rise. Maybe be a little more like Doug; enjoy what you have, know when to stop, and go about your days in peace. Although the thought of Jim being more like Doug I think is the general premise of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.