In 2009, I worked for roughly a year in a Verizon wireless call center. I previously worked in retail where I had sold computers and wireless devices, so this wasn’t a big stretch for me.
However, as soon as I got my employee discount and was able to get my discounted price on a phone, I bought my first BlackBerry Curve. God, I thought it was so cool, being able to get on a slimmed- down version of the Internet and check emails on my phone. With that little screen, I thought I was so high tech.
So as soon as I saw the first trailers for the BlackBerry movie, I knew that I wanted to see it given my familiarity with the product and experiencing the BlackBerry phenomenon in my lifetime.
SUMMARY: after a disastrous business meeting RIM co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Doug Fregin reluctantly agree to partner with Jim Balsillie to save their company. Mike and Doug’s ingenuity combined with Jim’s aggressive business practices give the world its first smartphone: the BlackBerry. The movie follows the Lightning -like rise and meteoric fall of the worlds first smartphone giant.
There was a certain… texture to the movie, for the lack of the better term. I know the story is set in 1996 and the movie looked and felt every bit of the part. It took me back to the pre-HD analog world that was slowly transitioning into digital.I didn’t realize until Doug some additional research that Blackberry was original presented as an AMC tv miniseries; which would explain the lower budget feel of the movie.
Like so many other true stories like The Social Network, BlackBerry was a story of nerds, ingenuity, corruption and betrayal. The recurring themes through these movies is that you cannot make your way to the top without stepping on some necks along the way; or in this case flat-out breaking the last. The movie is loosely based on the book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry but I feel like we only got half of the story in the movie. BlackBerry painted Mike and Doug as two typical nerdy guys, tinkering in the their basement, when in fact RIM already was a moderately successful company – particularly in software – before they created the first BlackBerry. Furthermore, the movie only scratches the surface in the “spectacular fall” from the source material. This is not to say that the movie deserves or even warrants a sequel, but there was more story to be told.
FINAL TAKE: recommended, particularly for fans of historical dramatizations. Blackberry, much like the affirmation of The Social Neteork, has a baked-in appeal to most of us as technology users. But because of the timing and the whole blackberry experience, Gen Z and Gen Alpha may not connect with the movie as much as their predecessors.
Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, 👍 comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related (and perhaps, not-so-related) posts:
- Rob’s Retro Movie Review: This is Spinal Tap (1984) – The Movie That Scaled to Eleven
- A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
- The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
- Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
- The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie
The article “Rob reviews: BlackBerry (2023)” first appeared in Rebuilding Rob.
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