Director: Matt Johnson

Stars: Glenn Howerton, Jay Baruchel, Matthew Johnson, Cary Elwes, Michael Ironside

This amusing comic drama charts the rise and rapid fall of Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company behind the titular communication device. It opens with tech nerds Mike Lazardis (Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Johnson) pitching an early version of the BlackBerry to an unimpressed exec Jim Balsillie (Howerton, from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’). After begin fired, Balsillie has a change of heart and decides to throw his lot in with the RIM duo, determined to bring a more professional business sensibility to their ramshackle geeky outfit. Success follows and the company goes from strength to strength - until the iPhone earthquake. Howerton sporting a shaved pate dominates here as the blowhard exec, while managing to keep Balsillie relatable as we share his character’s comic exasperation with his geeky charges. Great supporting work too from Carey Ewes as a mephistophelean chuckling rival tech tycoon, and Michael Ironside as the fearsome manager recruited to kick RIM staff into shape. Director Johnson maintains a keen pace via some jaunty handheld camerawork, while the script boasts some memorably tart dialogue and a winning Canadian self-deprecation. The depiction of entrepreneurism and tech bro hubris feels all too relevant in these X-citing times, but given the inevitable and well-documented fate of the company, the film inevitably runs out of steam by the third act.

David Willoughby

Follow David on Twitter @DWill_Crackfilm