A good movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it sounded like an interesting story and since it was available on Netflix, I thought I might as well check it out. I always had a weak spot for such stories and, in this case, it was pretty cool that it was dealing with a product I was actually familiar with. In fact, I never had a BlackBerry myself, it always felt like an elitist snobbish product to me but my ex-wife had one at some point and she really loved the damned thing. Anyway, it was interesting to see how it became the most popular smartphone, even if it was for a rather short while and I actually had no idea that it came from Canada. I was also impressed by Glenn Howerton. Where did this guy come from? Seriously, he was so charismatic playing Jim Balsillie. I also did appreciate how they displayed that, sure, Balsillie was probably ruthless but, in fact, there is no other way to be really competitive in this business or any other business for that matter. It was also quite subtle how they displayed that, even though Mike Lazaridis probably liked his original team who designed the first BlackBerry, he was also probably frustrated by their lack of focus and professionalism. I have to say that I was rather surprised that they didn’t explain the origins of the name ‘BlackBerry’ since Lazaridis and Balsillie both seemed to make a big deal out of it. Something they didn’t mention was that, sure, BlackBerrys were at the top of the game and eventually disappeared, Mike Lazaridis still became one of the wealthiest men in Canada (and still is nowadays). Anyway, to conclude, even if it was nothing really ground-breaking, it was a decent watch though and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested in this subject. 

7/10