Three of the most entertaining movies of 2023 have told the origin stories of game-changing innovations from the latter part of the 20th century that left quite the stamp on the popular culture. First there was the breezy Apple TV+ Cold War romp “Tetris,” followed by Ben Affleck’s masterful “Air.” And now comes Matthew Johnson’s wickedly funny and kinetic “BlackBerry,” a classic inventor/underdog tale about that brief and shining era when a handheld device from Canada had millions of us working our thumbs to the bone as we obsessed over that tactile, clicking keyboard. The BlackBerry was so addictive it was dubbed “CrackBerry.” Remember? And then ... not so much.
The difference: Whereas “Tetris” tells us in the closing credits the game has sold more than a half billion copies and remains popular, and “Air” reaches its conclusion when we’re just at the beginning of Nike’s ascent to global domination, “BlackBerry” reminds us in the end title cards, “At its height, BlackBerry controlled 45% of the cell phone market. … Today, it’s 0%.” You probably know the reason why BlackBerry crashed and burned; if not, you can look it up on your iPhone, ahem.
