"Sorry to Bother You" (2018) Review

“Sorry to Bother You”: a wild ride of a film that is both hilarious and horrific.

Directed by: Boots Riley

Rated: R

Runtime: 1:45

Review by: Livi Edmonson

“Sorry to Bother You” is one of the first Oscar bait-labeled flicks that we have seen this summer. Coming in hot with a ripe score of 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, critics everywhere are raving about this insanely inappropriate, yet wildly entertaining film.

The film’s plot takes place in a dystopian yet modern-day Oakland, California. It stars Lakeith Stanfield as Cassius Green: an honorable, hard-working man who’s struggling to make enough for him and his performance artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), to get by in a time where almost everyone in the world is at their lowest point. He ends up taking a telemarketing job, in hopes of becoming what’s called a “power caller” which is considered to be the “top tier of telemarketing” by his company. He eventually does become a power caller by using a secret trick that a co-worker gave him that he didn’t know he was cable of: his “white” voice. 

As Cassius’s career as a power caller takes off and lands him in the view of one of the most successful CEOs of all time, the drug-addicted and psychotic Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), his girlfriend and old telemarketing co-workers organize a city-wide rebellion against the corporate oppression that not only them, but also the world is facing. Cassius must make a decision to either fight for what’s morally right or get paid millions of dollars to do what’s morally wrong. Trust me, the spoilers are all being concealed right now so if you already think this movie sounds insane, it gets even more wild once you actually experience the whole thing. 

 Radical rapper and producer, Boots Riley makes his writing and directorial debut with this flick and it is not only innovative, fresh, and unlike any other film ever made, but also it is extremely thought provoking. 

You can tell that the film was made with more than likely, a very low budget, but Riley makes sure that it looks like they put millions of dollars into it and in a way, it is a great mixture of an Old Hollywood generation film and a new indie genre type of film. What I mean by this is that his ideas are by no means, traditionalized. They are vibrant and new, as most indie film ideas are these days. But his filmmaking technique is very classical as he uses old cinematic camera tricks like the “dissolve” or the “wipe” technique to give his flick a classic vibe. It’s something that a common audience member wouldn’t notice, but many film lovers will, giving off a nostalgic vibe to this extremely odd, eccentric flick.

The cast is full of comedic geniuses and forces to be reckoned with, especially scene-stealer, Tessa Thompson, who you probably haven’t seen on-screen since her debut in 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok”. But great comedic actors like these ultimately are this great and funny because of the guidance of their mentors throughout the film, otherwise known as their writer and director. Boots Riley proves himself not only as an excellent writer, producer, and director, but also as an incredible visionary and overall, an artist. The imaginative, dreamlike vibe given to his comedy-thriller is unlike one we have ever seen. Though some plot points in my opinion, seemed very similar to “Get Out”, Riley overall maintained originality throughout his flick but also found a way to pick the audience members’ brains quite a bit.

The film, though labeled a comedy, has a very dark, cynical undertone to it. Though at points in the film Riley, made many of these dark issues seem more comedic and light-hearted, by the end, everything could be seen very clear and coherent: this film is based on where our world could possibly be headed if we, as humans, don’t start making major changes. “Sorry to Bother You” touches on issues dealing with capitalism, race, class, diversity, and many other things that make up the huge struggle that not only the characters in the film face, but also that the world could possibly face and in a way, is facing.

Overall, “Sorry to Bother You” is a refreshing addition to this summer’s indie box-office and more than likely will be in the running for many awards in the 2019 awards season. I wouldn’t even be surprised if it became a Best Picture nom at the 2019 Oscars. But for now, I would only recommend seeing this if you can handle a very R-rated flick that is very funny, but then pretty scary. Therefore, if you cannot handle any kind of horror element in a film, stay home because even though the trailer fools you by marketing this film as a comedy, you won’t be able to un-see many of the horrors shown in the film’s conclusion.

                                                                 The cast of "Sorry to Bother You" with director Boots Riley.