Sorry to Bother You (2018) Review

 

Sorry to Bother You (2018)

Sorry to Bother You follows Cassius “Cash” Green, a telemarketer who finds the ultimate key to success, but the price could cost him his friends and sanity.

I have heard nothing but great stuff about this since it’s release but god damn, when was anybody gonna mention ‘that’ twist!? This political and social satire is anything but ordinary, constantly upping the wow factor and leaving you perplexed but also astounded in it’s sheer genius. At the forefront, it’s a commentary on black culture and how to get ahead in a white mans world, as seen by Cash’s white telemarketing voice which skyrockets him to success. But it also parodies the absurd commercialist and capitalist society we live in—in this outrageous, fictionalized version of Oakland—where companies like WorryFree (essentially Amazon) profit off of slave labor. Cash though, is trapped in the middle of this, with friends fighting for higher pay, while he profits off of his success and gets in bed with the company they’re trying to dismantle.

Seems straightforward, right? Well it’s not. It is so absurdly funny, but also ups the ante by introducing these jacked, big phallic’d horse-human hybrids (!!!) in a haunting and graphic scene that parallels the everyday horse themed phrases associated with people and the workforce (i.e. “worked like a horse”, “hung like a horse”). It’s such a crazy concept that is somehow so absurd that it works, thanks to this movie’s constant need to introduce crazier shit.

We also get a remarkable cast here, featuring Tessa Thompson, Armie Hammer, Steve Yeun, Omari Hardwick, David Cross, and LaKeith Stanfield. LaKeith is incredible, as usual, portraying the viewers bewilderment at all times, almost being in on the joke. His movie ending turn into the foretold horse-leading, MLKJr is also hilariously well done.

Sorry to Bother You, directed wonderfully by Boots Riley, is an extremely anti-capitalist film that utilizes telemarketing to make a hilariously off the wall meta-argument about the injustice that predatory capitalism breeds in an advanced society, in Riley’s near perfect directorial debut.

9.4/10