I finally saw the one movie I wanted to this year, I rented it off Amazon once it was marked down to six dollars from 25. I didn't really want to see this in a cinema, so this was my compromise.
I'm amazed how Matt Johnson can basically get away with playing himself in these roles. Given he's now playing a real person vs a version of a person who might shoot up a school, or might be involved in faking the moon landing, it was interesting how he played someone who existed and was also obsessed with references and movie nights. From what little I found, the real life Doug Fregin developed tech to streamline and speed up editing films so it's not a stretch for Matt to insert himself into this character. It helps this might also be people's first intro, not their second or third or fourth if you're familiar with Nirvana the Band the Show. He's perfectly capable of demonstrating tension in the middle of a lot of ADHD energy but it's still Matt. Maybe it was to protect Doug, who's already a recluse, he agreed to just play himself rather than via mimicry. The leads do the lifting and Matt's direction has really advanced. We still have some shaky cam moments but everything's cleaner and well constructed. It's taking a competent film maker and giving him the resources to really do something special. Jay Baruchel gets to demonstrate something more interesting than secondary friend of stoners. Glenn Howerton's let off his leash to damaging effect, you need someone who can go from zero to eighty on the anger scale without breaking a sweat (and making the fake tan run). Cary Elwes is fun. Martin Donovan gets another bit part when the man can do more than a lead in a Hal Hartely film or a guest run on Weeds. Eric Osborn (Miles Hollingsworth III of the pink pants and Degrassi fame) has a great small role cowering around Howerton, which suits him. I had fun. It met most of my expectations. I saw someone complain the BlackBerry name gets no mention in terms of origin, in fact I think the trailer misleads you that it's even given a name at the prototype stage. I don't remember Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs explaining why he chose Apple or Macintosh. Pirates of Silicon Valley is my tech bro origin story benchmark to this day. I try to remind myself it's not gospel and neither is BlackBerry or the Social Network, but the three have kinda become my holy trinity of tech bro evil developer biopics. I'm looking forward to the three part series that fills in the gaps, which is a cool way of not simply releasing a director's cut. Jay McCarrol's score is beautiful and fitting but definitely not a standout compared to Ross/Resnor's Social Network score. The soundtrack is a nice blend of bops that fit the time periods. I've had Elastica's Connection stuck in my head all day.
Putting some early bets on BlackBerry's awards, some Globes and Oscars would be nice. I'm seeing it clean up at a lot of indie shows.
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