Sorry to Bother You

What are the odds that the last three films I watched at the cinema would have an African-American protagonist (and an African-American writer), would all be mislabelled “comedies” (they are all much too dark for that label, though one of them could be fairly described as a dark comedy), would have many similar themes (racism being the most obvious) and would have two films set in the same city of Oakland, California? Probably rather low, but that’s what happened (entirely unplanned). All three of these indie films are critically acclaimed, and I liked all of them, but the one I liked best is the least acclaimed of the three (I actually liked every film better than the last).

I will review these three films (one a day) in the order that I watched them, beginning with Boots Riley’s very quirky ‘comedy drama’ (I prefer: ‘dark sci-fi/horror satire’), Sorry to Bother You. Lakeith Stanfield stars as Cassius “Cash” Green, a young man who is so desperate to find work that he applies to be a telemarketer for a sketchy company called RegalView (in an alternate-reality Oakland). Cash doesn’t do well (his attempts are one of the film’s highlights) until Langston (Danny Glover), an older co-worker, tells him to use his ‘white’ voice. Cash is so successful with his white voice that he is quickly promoted to become what is known as a ‘Power Caller’, a far more lucrative position (to say the least), but one which basically requires Cash to sell his soul. Things go downhill (and very dark) from there, though in an over-the-top satirical way that allows for the possibility of the film being described as a ‘dark comedy’.

I won’t say any more about the bizarre plot, other than that it involves a company called WorryFree (the CEO of which is Steve Lift (Armie Hammer)), that offers people the chance to live without worrying about bills, food and shelter if they sign a contract to work for the rest of their lives (legalized slavery), and there’s an anti-WorryFree protest movement led by a group called “The Left Eye”.

While Sorry to Bother You takes a satirical look at racism, classism and sexism, with some very cutting spot-on observations, it is primarily an often-brilliant satire of our capitalist society. As a staunch (and life-long) anti-capitalist, I was thrilled to see it. This could easily have been one of my favourite films of the year (I enjoy absurd satires). Unfortunately,  just as in The Death of Stalin, the satire was a little too dark, silly and scattered for me, with a number of wasted opportunities for Sorry to Bother You to be the classic it could have been.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed some scenes immensely, I thought the acting was generally strong (Stanfield and Tessa Thompson stood out as Cash and Detroit, Cash’s activist girlfriend), as was the cinematography and score, and Riley’s writing is original and intelligent. So Sorry to Bother You gets a lightweight ***+. My mug is up.