The full title of the book this film is based on – Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of Blackberry – tells you everything you need to know.

This is tech sector rise-and-demise territory, a tale of what happens when pals become business partners, when smart little companies get into bed with big dumb ones, and what happens to game-changers when the rules are been thrown out the window by someone else.

Directed by Matt Johnson, BlackBerry unpacks the human drama that unfolded with the invention of the Blackberry phone/texting device, the gadget that was, prior to the launching of Apple’s iPhone, the favoured communications tool of the corporate set.

Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton in BlackBerry. Photo supplied

Waterloo, Ontario, 1996. Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (Johnson) are the co-founders of Research in Motion (RIM), a workshop over a strip mall trying to sell niche products combining elements of the pager and the mobile phone. They are way ahead of a curve dominated by lumbering American telcos.

Mike (driven, detail-focused) and Doug (goofy engineering wiz) are innovators by nature, but when it comes...