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BlackBerry is the tragicomedic account of the icarian cell phone company. While the director admittedly takes some artistic liberties, the film is based on the very real people behind the creation of the BlackBerry, which once owned over 50% of the global cell phone market and now sits at nill. This rags-to-riches-to-rags story follows the same vein as films such as Air, Tetris, and Flamin’ Hot. Gone are the days of product placement — we now live in the world of product movies. This particular one follows Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Matthew Johnson), who created the BlackBerry, and Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton — most prominently known for his role as Dennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia), who sold it. It is a whip-smart story that paints a dark, dog-eat-dog portrait of the business world. The dialogue and acting are excellent, the most surprising of which comes from Howerton’s portrayal of Balsillie. The film has a homemade feel that sometimes lends more distraction than artistic vision, but it is an overall gripping movie about what once was a technological marvel, but is now known as the thing that people used before they jumped ship and bought the iPhone.

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