Where I Watched It: iTunes

English Audio Description?: Yes

Narrated By: Nicole Surillo

Easily one of the best decisions I’ve made this year was to pull the trigger and make sure I rented a copy that had audio description. This film hails from IFC Films, which seems to not care how their films are presented across various platforms, and their accessibility is unfortunately quite lacking as the films traditionally premiere on AMC Plus with their IFC channel, where it won’t have audio description, before later winding up on Hulu, where it also will not have audio description. And these companies wonder why I’m angry at them in perpetuity, and groups like the Florida Film Critics Circle wonder why I’m asking to join simply so that Hollywood is forced to reckon with the concept that blind people still watch film.

Blackberry is a delightful look into how the cellphone came to be through a Canadian start up that wasn’t happy with the cheap labor and cheap products produced by China. Jay Baruchel stars in one of his best performances as the man who spearheads this new technological wonder, and Glenn Howerton has an explosive performance as the boisterous man who gets things done. One of those things is expanding the BlackBerry share, and coming up with ways of revolutionizing the way people use cell phones. Together, they make for a riveting film about that phone you probably owned before you tried an iPhone.

This is not the first or last film to be in this nostalgic business sub genre we’ve had this year. From Taron Edgerton trying to own the rights to Tetris, Matt Damon trying to save Nike in Air, to Zach Galafanakis creating a frenzy in The Beanie Bubble, we have seen this specific type permeate our screens all at once in 2023. Most of them have been good to great. I honestly believe BlackBerry might just be the best of all of them.

While Air had a ton of finesse, BlackBerry has this undercurrent of electricity brought by Glen Howerton, who brings an energy to this genre I don’t think we’ve seen since Swimming With Sharks. He’s bold, unafraid, and unapologetic in striving for the total domination of the marketplace, and filling his pockets along the way.

Howerton isn’t likely to get an Oscar nomination this year, but make no mistake that this is Oscar worthy. IFC just will have too hard of a time marketing a May release against the heavy hitters. They aren’t known for Oscar campaigns.

Everything about this film impressed me, from the whip smart screenplay, to the expertly paced sequences, to a surprisingly career best from jay Baruchel. He’s not getting nearly enough love for his work here, but for an actor so frequently given very little to do other than be nerdy, he really commands this film more than any other film he’s been in during his career. It opens up a world of possibility for what baruchel could do following his casting here, and I’m excited for it.

Audio describing the film is quite easy, as the film isn’t that far back in time, and most of it takes place within the confines of the office. However, it is a nice compliment to these actors choices with regards to their performances, and provides context for the several sequences that take place outside of the BlackBerry headquarters. Also, we are still talking about cell phones, which have screens that we can’t see, and even though texting seems almost primitive in how they use it in this film, it is still used. And unless they write the characters all as crazy people who read every text message aloud upon reception, the audio description remains a vital part of the equation.

Still have a little ways to go this year in terms of watching movies, and some awards contenders, but this is currently a Top 10 film for me this year, and I wouldn’t be mad at all if it stayed there. Air was terrific, but I’d give Blackberry a slight edge.

Final Grade: A