Mike Johnson | 1hr 59min
While much of Hollywood has recently taken to telling the feel-good stories of those entrepreneurs who innovated broadly successful products such as Air Jordans, Tetris, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, BlackBerry’s unlikely pairing of tech bro Mike Lazaridis and cutthroat businessman Jim Balsillie proves to be a satirically wry subversion of that formulaic rags-to-riches tale. In theory, these two should have been a dynamic duo with enough brains between them to take over the world – and indeed they do for a time. The downfall of a brand which once made up 45% of the cell phone market though seems virtually predestined with the benefit of hindsight. As far as most people are concerned, BlackBerry seemingly disappeared without explanation, and so with a natural spontaneity behind the camera and a cynical wit at hand, Mike Johnson follows in the creative footsteps of Adam McKay to fill in the gaps of what we know about one of the most catastrophic business failures of the 21st century.
In its crudest form, the PocketLink device which Mike Lazaridis initially pitches to Jim with his friend Douglas Fregin isn’t terribly impressive, though its novelty is admirable – for one, the invention capitalises on a free wireless signal that spans North America, and which hasn’t yet been tapped into. It is little more than good timing which prompts a recently unemployed Balsillie to take them up on the offer, immediately establishing himself as co-CEO. For a time, his savvy business instincts work wonders, though the role his intimidating, hostile persona plays in this can’t be discounted. Corners must be cut, and quality must be sacrificed for progress. For such a dour man, his nuggets of wisdom are hilariously condescending, even targeting a subordinate as they commit the minor transgression of reaching for a bottle of water.
“Thirst is a display of a weakness.”
Glenn Howerton’s comic instincts that he has spent years crafting on sitcoms pays off tremendously in this role, effectively transplanting the raging narcissism of Dennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia into a tragically humourless businessman with an equal lack of self-awareness. The number of times he smiles in BlackBerry could be counted on one hand, but even when he does there is a cold arrogance in his eyes. Expressions of unbound fury come far more naturally to Balsillie, serving him well enough when he faces down competitors, though also incidentally revealing the rottenness which America’s capitalist industries thrive on.
Still, there is an odd respect that forms between Balsillie and Lazaridis. While the business shark proposes inserting BlackBerries into elite circles and marketing the brand as a status symbol, the tech genius wins over investors with his innovation, making for a perfectly symbiotic partnership. The tension that inevitably arises is even more tantalising to watch though, and it is through Johnson’s documentary shooting style that we begin to feel like voyeurs watching a colossal trainwreck in the making – albeit one desperately trying to save face in the public eye. Handheld cameras and zoom lenses probe into private spaces from a distance, studying the vulnerabilities of these entrepreneurs, all while Johnson keeps accelerating the momentum of their ruin in montages cutting across archival news stories and talk shows.
It isn’t just Lazaridis’ struggle to match the innovation of Apple’s iPhone touchscreen, but the very qualities which once made Balsillie such a compelling businessman are the same which brings his empire down around him. In this way, BlackBerry also becomes a cautionary tale of what comes of such nefarious distractions, obsessions, and shady practices in a capitalist industry, eventually degrading the very quality of the product until it becomes a cheap copy of itself. Through Johnson’s cynical bookends, the irritating buzz of poorly manufactured devices brings Lazaridis full circle back to where he started, only with the problem now multiplied around him a millionfold. The long-lasting era of smartphones may have been dreamed up by these forward-thinking men, and yet as BlackBerry casts its final condemnation upon the ruthlessly corrupt free market, it is also clear that its future was never going to flourish in their ill-equipped hands.
BlackBerry is currently playing in theatres.
