User reviews

Wow, there are a lot of people who don't like this movie, and moreover, seem to mad that others like it. Some samples:

"I think people who are giving it high praise believe that's just what their supposed to do but the fact is it's just a dumpster fire of a movie."

" I RARELY write movie reviews but had to inform people of the facts on this one."

"The positive reviews are from movie snobs who think they are smarter than everyone else and recognize brilliance in pure garbage."

You get the point. It's almost like we're all supposed to like all the same things now. (In fairness, there were plenty of other reviewers who didn't like it, but said they're glad others enjoyed it.

I'm not a movie snob. I'm not a film executive and I have nothing to do with the film except I paid 6 bucks to see it last Tuesday. This is a very surreal satire. It won't be to everyone's liking, but it seems to me that we are getting more and more confused about the difference between fact and opinion. It's not a fact that this movie sucks, any more than it's a fact that this movie is great. These are classically opinions.

Me, I like movies that start sort of pseudo-normal and go into bizarre. This is right up my alley. It's a Repo Man for our generation. Genetic engineering, dead end call center jobs, megalomaniacal Bay Area billionaires trying to save the world, race relations and post-postmodern art commentary. It's all painted in a crazy, bigger-than-life science fiction brush. Yeah, it's weird as hell, and maybe ends a little weakly (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, anyone?) but has a method in its madness.

If you don't like absurdist humor, or if you don't like movies that are at least semi-overt political statements (especially if the political statement is opposed to yours. Anti-union, pro-business capitalists with short fuses be warned! You should give it a miss and just read the National Review's Ross Douthat's review. He saved you a lot of time worrying your beautiful mind about it.), and if you don't like a dollop of science fiction every now and then, yeah, you're going to probably hate it.

But your opinion is still not fact. I liked it. That's my OPINION. Get over it.

I always try to base my judgement of a film, on how much it can bring forth my emotions. The more a film can invoke my feelings the; whether that be love, fear or joy. That is what makes a movie great. I have stuck to that rule my whole life, and whether I am feeling in awe at another Nolan epic, or pure bitter frustration at sharknado 13, I have never stumbled across a single film to which I can make an exception.

That was in fact until I embarked on the journey known as "sorry to bother you".

This film is strange. I mean, reallyyy strange. A dystopian reality is constructed, using cheerful and colourful, mise-en-scene, picture and sound; as a poorly crafted mask to cover the dark undertones which hide in plain sight. The acting? Seamless. The humour? Hilarious. The plot? A positive unorthodox. And yet what emotion of mine does this film invoke? Misery.

The alternative reality conjured is so surreal, yet so real. The psychopathic nature of every single aspect of this creation bears all too many similarities to the world we too live in. So hyperbolized, so ridiculous, but still so true. Immediately after whatching this film I had to call my best friend, just to hear a sane voice, as even the one in my own head was failing to provide me that comfort.

This film does exactly what it sets out to do, it does so in stupendous fashion. And yet, I hated it. I recommended that none of my friends watch it. Though smiling throughout, my overall emotion was of such discomfort, that I really did not want anybody to go through the same. This is the best worst film I have ever seen. My rating has fluctuated from 4-10 throughout the writing of this review. But here you have it. 7/10. My final answer, a mediocre score, for a far from mediocre film.

Sorry to Bother You is a strange, surreal, hilarious satire guided by the intentionally unsteady hand of rapper-activist turned debut director, Boots Riley.

It dabbles in commentary on media, society, race and working-class issues-so many poignant messages, some more successfully delivered than others. The fearless absurdism will likely distract some viewers from a couple of these messages, but I'm okay with that. I take this wonderful creation much more for its entertainment value than anything else.

The messages that do resonate should come through clearly. Riley's story doesn't shroud itself in murky metaphors. It tells us exactly how to interpret the bizarre world he has created.

Rising star LaKeith Stanfield plays Cassius 'Cash' Green, a deep-thinker who lives in his uncle's garage with his artistic girlfriend named Detroit (the invaluable Tessa Thompson). It comes as no surprise that a man who goes by Boots would opt to give his characters unusual names. These two are just the beginning.

To collect enough scratch to keep up with his rent and put gas in the rusty bucket he drives, he takes a job as a telemarketer. When a wise elder advises him to use "white voice" to improve his sales, Cash starts to rake in the green.

After he rises the ranks of the telemarketing world, ascending to the divine status of power caller, he attracts the attention of an eccentric, drug-fueled CEO, Steve Lift (Armie Hammer). His company, WorryFree (a place where employees feel anything but) hides a dark new idea. But when the secret leaks to the public, his stock unexpectedly skyrockets, and Lift is declared a pioneering genius.

The rational-minded public undoubtedly opposed Lift's plan, but big business carried on. As union organizer Squeeze (Steve Yuen) explains to Cassius, "if you show people a problem, but they don't know what to do about it, they just learn to get used to it."

If you think you have any of this plot figured out, think again. It makes a radical left turn in the third act that will tempt some viewers to jump ship. My advice: stay on board. Even if you don't want to totally buy in, just hang around to see where this new direction leads.

The film flies along with such easy energy early, then hits turbulence when trying to figure out how to end this thing. Riley introduces so much psychedelic madness that by the end it's nearly impossible to wrap up the story. But at some point, one must come down from every trip.

Even with as jarringly fantastical as it is, in many ways this movie also feels incredibly real. As Riley puts it, he strives to "break down reality to help us better understand it." Mission accomplished.

A paean to the proletariat. A pro-union battle cry. An ideological evisceration of late capitalism. A deconstruction of corporate greed and the concomitant commercialisation of self-worth necessary to succeed. A critique of identity politics. An allegory of institutional racism in big business. A lampooning of Silicon Valley bro culture. Sorry to Bother You, the debut feature of writer/director Boots Riley, is all this, and more. Very much in the key of absurdist fiction such as Dino Buzzati's Il deserto dei Tartari (1940) and Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man (1952), as well as race-conscious satirical cinema such as Putney Swope (1969) and Watermelon Man (1970), the film draws more direct inspiration from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust (c.1806-1831), Repo Man (1984), and the work of Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, and, bizarrely, Ken Loach.

A black comedy/Juvenalian satire/science fiction/horror/magic realist/allegorical character study, it's impossible to classify. Dealing with the obstacles facing African Americans in a white-dominated corporate milieu, and positing that the experience of workers is determined by both labour conditions and race, the film examines labour relations, wage issues, worker solidarity, unionism, mass media, and the dangers of betraying oneself and choosing corporate advancement over friendships, relationships, and personal integrity. Although it's a beat or two too long, and although the spectacularly bizarre left-turn at the end of the second act will surely alienate a lot of viewers, the deconstruction and comic appropriation of code-switching results in a film that is constantly inventive, highly confrontational, and extremely funny.

Set in Oakland, California in an "alternate present", the company WorryFree offers food and lodging in exchange for a lifetime labour contract with no wages, a practice which the Supreme Court has deemed legal and not equivalent to slavery. Standing against WorryFree is the radical group "Left Eye", who organise protests and vandalise WorryFree's billboards. Meanwhile, Cash Green (LaKeith Stanfield) is a telemarketer working for RegalView, who, upon the advice of a veteran co-worker (Danny Glover), discovers his "white voice" and rises to the top of the company's food chain. Gradually, however, he learns that RegalView is selling slave labour to WorryFree. Torn between exposing WorryFree and his substantial earnings, Cash's dilemma is exacerbated when WorryFree CEO, Steve Lift (a spectacular Armie Hammer) offers him a $1 million a year contract. However, Cash then makes a discovery that changes everything, not just for himself, but potentially for all of humanity.

At its heart, Sorry to Bother is an anti-corporate, proletarian rally cry, something with which Riley has been engaged for decades as lead vocalist for The Coup and Sweet Sweeper Social Club. However, unlike the recent satire Assassination Nation (2018), Sorry to Bother You is not especially interested in politics per se, certainly not in the explicit sense of films such as Stachka (1925), Medium Cool (1969), or Bulworth (1998).

This is not to say that the film ignores politics completely, rather it approaches the subject obliquely. For example, the country's most popular TV show, I Got the S--t Kicked Out of Me, involves people being violently assaulted by family and friends and then dunked in a vat of faeces, with Riley providing little to no contextualisation (think It's Not My Problem! from RoboCop (1987), where Bixby Snyder's (S.D. Nemeth) catchphrase, "I'd buy that for a dollar", is used as a one-size-fits-all response to every situation). This mindless consumption of meaningless and morally questionable content indicates the passivity of the masses, their critical faculties either dormant or absent entirely (an inverse verfremdungseffekt, if you will). Clips of the show feature prominently throughout the film, allowing Riley to depict a milieu where popular entertainment has reached an unimaginable low. Another example of a pseudo-political aspect of the film are the ubiquitous billboards and TV commercials advertising WorryFree, suggesting the corruption or co-opting of mass media.

Riley's focus is very much on economic issues, with a lot of the humour derived from pecuniary-based situations. One of the easiest ways to parse the film is to approach it as a parable about selling out, equal parts polemic and acknowledgement that it's next to impossible not to sell out in some way. Indeed, the last act of the film explicitly deals with the literal dehumanisation of the workforce (and I do mean "literal"). RegalView and WorryFree exist in an economic system built upon impoverishing the many for the benefit of the few, with Riley attempting to expose the importance of a poverty line for the continued functioning of late capitalism. Within such a system, he suggests, it is exceptionally difficult for African Americans to succeed unless they are willing to code-switch. In this sense, although the concept of "white voice" does have a practical function within the narrative, its most salient characteristic is as an object of allegorical satire, a hyperbolic caricature of what African Americans need to do to survive in the Caucasian bro-culture corporate ranks of Silicon Valley; they must literally relinquish part of the self and pretend to be something Other.

Aesthetically, the film adopts a visual style obviously influenced by Michel Gondry, and, to a lesser extent, Terry Gilliam. An especially interesting aesthetic device, as anyone who has seen the trailer can attest, is how white voice is handled - rather than having the actors simply speak in a different voice, Riley instead has the white actors' voices overdubbed; when Cash's friend Salvador (Jermaine Fowler) first hears Cash's white voice, he literally tells him "you sound overdubbed". However, the lip syncing is, presumably intentionally, far from perfect, with the voice not quite aligning with the actors' mouth movements. This throws the scenes "off" ever so slightly, creating an extra layer of surreality, and highlighting just how absurd the whole thing is, drawing attention to the lengths these people have to go to achieve real success. The fact that our culture places such value on "correct" intonation is, in and of itself, absurd, like an extreme version of the phone voice that pretty much everyone has, and by failing to perfectly sync white voice to black actor, Riley is able to deconstruct and draw attention to this absurdity.

The film's other big aesthetic innovation is having Cash plunge (not especially gracefully) into the living room of the people he calls, desk and all. Obviously, this draws attention to the level of intrusion with which most people greet telemarketers, but, at least in the early stages, it also highlights Cash's own discomfit at being the intruder, seen most clearly when he drops in on a couple having sex. This is an excellently-handled piece of visual shorthand, conveying Cash's internal process, without having him verbalise it at any point.

Also impressive is the acting. While the standout performances are definitely Hammer and Omari Hardwick (playing Mr. _______, Cash's superior at WorryFree), Stanfield certainly holds his own, with his body-language providing a clinic of wordless performing. Early on in the film, he's hunched over and put-upon, his every movement seemingly uncomfortable, as if ill at ease in his own skin. Later on, however, after his promotion at RegalView, his physicality acquires a more easy nature, he carries himself more confidently, as if high-powered telemarketing has helped him to find himself, something which is, in the context of the whole, doubly ironic. And no matter how surreal things get (and trust me, they get very, very surreal), the cast keep everything grounded, as if what they're experiencing at any given moment is the most natural thing in the world.

Of course, it isn't all perfect. The wildly unexpected plot twist at the end of the second act will be too much for some people (there were multiple walk-outs at the screening I attended). The film is also just a beat or two too long, and the bottom does fall out to an extent before it reaches its madcap dénouement. There's also a mid-credit scene that serves as a kind of epilogue that I'm led to believe was a re-shoot when test audiences found the initial ending too abrupt. For me, however, it doesn't entirely work, and I would have much preferred the original, somewhat darker, ending. Also, with so much satire and humour floating about, almost by definition, not every joke lands, However, the flip side to this is that when Riley's humour does hit the target, it's sublime - Mr. _______ literally beep-denied a name, for example, or Cash's two-word rap being gleefully cheered by Lift's assembled yuppies.

Sorry to Bother You is as timely and relevant as it is funny and irreverent, as progressive as it is radical, and as inventive as it is confident. Exploring the intersection between race and economics from a wholly satirical point-of-view, the film both condemns and sympathises with those who choose to sell-out in some way so as to climb the ladder of success. Now in his late-40s, Riley is a veteran political protestor, a Chomsky-literate agitator, who is here positing that the most significant divide in the US isn't between white and black, it's between those with money and those without. Suggesting that the desire to cross this divide can lead to a herd mentality, the film argues that the labour force must never forget their collective strength, and must never turn on one another, as in such a situation, management will use workers like horses.

Every so often a movie comes around, then really gets you to go "woah". And this is one of those movies. I have no idea how the filmmaker came up with all the things he shows us here. And it is tough to describe overall, because this is a movie that takes on the establishment and society and our view on class system and also has something to say about those calls you get, where a stranger tries to sell you something.

It's also about race (the "rap" is almost too cringe-worthy and should make you equal parts uncomfortable while kind of make you smile too) and other things. And it does have a fantastic cast to support all the strange thngs that are depicted in the movie. I can't praise the movie enough for being different. This really delivers on its premise and what else could you ask for? It may not touch any of your senses, it may not be to your liking, but it is masterfully crafted (flaws included)

Marvellous, odd ball & a great way to spend a couple of hours. If you like wacky story telling or anything by the great Gilliam then this will work for you. American cinema needs this kind of indie style movie, to offset the general bilge produced by US mainstream cinema. Beautifully shot, with a barking story line - A fine way to pass an evening.

Good: The concept was original and different and the first two-thirds of the movie were interesting/engaging. The film is filled with talent from Tessa Thompson to Armie Hammer. But the true standout is Lakeith Stanfield's character who is relatable with his struggles and goal in life of making a difference and mattering in the world. I do like the themes the film tackles like the corruption of big companies with its hunger for power and money.

Bad: The film bounces around too much with its subplots. Near the end, the story goes for more of a shock value and the social problems it started to develop gets lost in a bad acid trip. Some of the ideas and characters were not fully developed as a result of the film being fast paced and messy. I personally did not find the jokes funny, but my audience was laughing for the most part.

Overall: This film is a political satire so it is not for everyone, however I believe there is a certain crowd that will absolutely admire this film and praise it for its originality and humor. The film juggles too much, but I appreciate Boots Riley's first time directorial debut ambitions.

3/5

The beginning is very like 'The Wolf of Wall Street', this film is also all about capitalism and greed. Our hero, Cassius is struggling to make end meet, he applies to be a telemarketer and quickly promoted to a 'Power Caller'

He discovers that senior management are exploiting its employees to generate more profit (you'll see how towards the end). The humour at the beginning turns into dark social commentary with lots of symbolism.

I'm always apprehensive when a poster says 'the best film of the year by far' Well ... it's not the 'best', but very good and definitely different.

Awesome satire movie, some moments i feel i was watching a Atlanta episode, others black mirror and ended up being a twilight zone episode! there is a lot of dark humor over here, is a thinking pay attention movie to catch a lot of the jokes.

if you like weird movies you should watch this one for sure!

Sorry To Bother You is a weird film. Not that that's a bad thing. It takes strange twists and turns, all while saying interesting things and presenting something thought provoking.

STBY is about Cassius "Cash" Green, a man who just needs to make a buck at his horrible telemarketer job and just get by. After finding he has a talent for sales while using his "white voice", he's propelled to the upper echelon of elite salespeople at the company. But that's just the first act. Any more and I'll spoil what this film has in store for you. The pace of it all is very quick and kept me wondering what could happen next. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, it jerked me into another dimension. The only gripe I had with the story is that the side plot of the friend who is trying to get with his girlfriend seems totally unnecessary. It could be taken out of the movie completely and nothing would be different.

The acting is great, with all the actors either embracing the insanity or not knowing what exactly to do with it. Everyone is fun to watch and see how they would react to their new situations.

The cinematography was excellent. From the first act and how dull and drab and out of focus everything is due to our main character's disinterest in his life and job, to the second act's sharp clarity where he is focused on doing the best he can at his job. The third act feels like a dream where everything is bright but hazy. There's a lot of great subtle visual metaphors throughout that make it fun to analyze as well. I would love to watch this again and see what I missed.

The soundtrack for this is just as trippy and weird. Lots of loops and weird instrumentation can be heard. Some members of the band Tune-Yards do the composition and it really does show. It keeps the kooky and psychedelic atmosphere alive.

Aside from some wonky "white voice" lip sync and the one story gripe, this is an awesome movie. Don't expect to laugh as much, but definitely expect to say "WTF???!!???" a whole lot.

I can see Sorry to Bother You ranked as a cult classic in future years. We live in an era where future job security is at risk from AI, robots and drones. The films asks important questions. The answers though are unpalatable. Workhouses for future workers unless they are part of the elite.

Sorry to Bother You starts out as a satire on race. Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) gets a telemarketing job and is struggling just to stick with the script. Cassius is in debt and is living at his uncle's garage. His uncle is behind on his mortgage payments so he could lose his house.

His fellow black colleague Langston (Danny Glover) tells Cassius that he will get more sales for using his 'White Voice.' Once Cassius adopts this, his sales hits the roof and pretty soon he is on his way to the top floor to become a power caller and more money. Meanwhile his fellow workers are on the picket line for better working conditions.

On the top floor, Cassius finds himself working to sell services from WorryFree to the highest bidder. WorryFree guarantees folks employment, housing and food for life. However in reality it is slavery, the food is slop and the housing is prison like cells. They work long and hard for whichever corporation takes on WorryFree staff.

However this is not enough for Steve Lift (Armie Hammer) the young chief executive of WorryFree. He plans to have a low cost workforce that can work harder and longer. He is not horsing about.

What starts out as a social satire quickly morphs as a surreal attack on modern capitalism. Governments and corporations do not give a damn if the populace are modern slaves, only profits count.

As for Cassius, he bends his principles when he starts to make huge commissions. He turns his back on his striking friends and splits with his activist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson.)

First time director Boots Riley shows his inexperience in film making, its message gets chaotic and muddled. Yet it is a daring and absurd debut.

I won't give anything away, but just prepare to be shocked and a little messed up by this movie. It's an understatement to say that it's not the movie you think you're gonna see. With that being said, it's got plenty of humor and we really liked it...but it definitely messed us up a little. You're gonna want to phone a friend after the movie ends so you can re-adjust to the real world.

I wasn't sure what to make of it from the trailer, but it is one of the few films this year that's absurdly original from beginning to end.

I should also note that although this is a thought provoking film, it doesn't leave you in a hazy "wtf was that / my brain is oatmeal now, thanks guy" mood when it's over. (Much like many artsy social commentary films.)

Let go, and enjoy the ride!

Blend together the surreal absurdity of a Charlie Kaufman script with the broad satire of Robocop and you end up with Sorry to Bother You, a film about the dehumanizing exploitation of workers in corporate America. This is a delightfully bizarre first feature from writer/director Boots Riley, who highlights the problems with "stick(ing) to the script" at the workplace and accepting mindlessly violent entertainment from television and art. Some of the strange imagery and ideas in the film may turn away certain viewers, but this is one of the most unique viewing experiences at the theater this year and should not be missed by fans of weird satire.

Pros: the movie is a unique piece of B movie art.

Lakeith Stanfield is a great actor.

Tessa Thompson was a really interesting character.

The movie was hilarious.

Cons: It felt like the director was unsure on how to end the story, the protest scenes lingered for far too long.

You just need to set aside your rationale, sit back and let the picture steer the wheel for your creative mind! This movie isn't trying to sell any opinions, it just is what it is and that's nothing short of a pleasant scenery. I recommend it to fans of Black Mirror or such movies.

I walked into this movie at an advance screening expecting something unique, but nothing could have prepared me for the sheer brilliance of this satirical masterwork. Hilarious from beginning to end while also subversive, this film joins some of the finest satires of its generation--from "South Park" to some of the best episodes of "Saturday Night Live" to "Wild Tales."

The story follows Cassius, an African-American telemarketer in Oakland. When told to use his "white voice" on the job while making calls, he quickly rises through the ranks of his profession--and ends up getting a hefty promotion. All of a sudden, things start to spiral out of control. I definitely won't give anything else away, as doing so would spoil what clearly must be experienced for oneself. The film's script is incredibly strong and is consistently hilarious. I laughed more while watching this film than any other movie in recent memory. Its dialogue is not only humorous, but incredibly frank and on-the-nose in its brutal honesty. The film's social consciousness and commentary intersect in ways that are thoughtful, snappy, and deeply rooted in (often unfortunately) a sense of genuine realism. Yet the film's image of the world is not equal to our society with microscopic precision, as its humor often tends to look at current societal issues with the mirror of a macabre fun-house.

Performances in the film are outstanding throughout, and the film is incredibly engaging throughout its run time. Free of pacing issues, it moves at a fast pace and twists and turns so unusually that one will never know what could happen next. This erratic nature is truly part of the film's genius. If such a style of narrative filmmaking was attempted to be used as a technique in almost any other film, it would fail miserably, but Boots Riley was able to commendably stay one step ahead of audiences while making them laugh profusely and question why and how our society may be in deep-seated decline. Also noteworthy is the film's soundtrack, which is a superb mix of rap and pop. The movie can often be strange, but viewers will be all the more thankful for its genuine audaciousness upon the film's conclusion.

Riley's ambitious filmmaking has a variety of possible influences (Spike Lee, Jordan Peele, Alejandro Inarritu, Charles Kaufman) yet feels wholly original--and genuinely, howlingly funny and socially relevant despite being so unconventional--from beginning to end. Very highly recommended. 10/10

Definitely an interesting take/portrayal of socio/economic differences as an issue. The whole movie kind of felt like a fever dream. Somewhat dystopian, while also keeping certain aspects rooted in everyday life. I appreciate anything that makes me think and try to understand.