BlackBerry

A strong rags-to-riches, tech-tragedy biopic. It reminded me of the Halt and Catch Fire/Silicon Valley bullpen of goof-offs and nerds, only competent when they absolutely need to be. The main characters’ goals are clear: Pay off their debt and design a cool product that won’t be made in China. To achieve this, they have to hire an explosive mean guy, expertly embodied by Glenn Howerton. And the moral of the story is: avoid hiring mean guys, and apparently, avoid having things made in China. Jay Baruchel’s hero still became very rich even though his company was murdered by iPhone, QC went down the drain because his thing got made in China, and he lost all his friends. But from the filmmakers’ point of view, it’s hard to know what he could have done differently.