CAST: LAKEITH STANFIELD, TESSA THOMPSON, STEVEN YEUN, DANNY GLOVER, OMARI HARDWICK, AND TERRY CREWS
DIRECTED BY: BOOTS RILEY
RELEASE DATE: JULY 6, 2018
From the mind of Boots Riley comes an intriguing tale of social consciousness shared through the realm of comedy and science fiction. Yes, I said a sci-fi/ comedy. Sorry To Bother You is thought provoking yet entertaining. Riley uses humor to reel in the audience and while he has their attention he leaves them with a message to ponder. The film, which was released on July 6th, had an initial budget of $3.2 million and has amassed $17.5 million in the United States alone. With it’s success, I’m certain it won’t be long before Hollywood comes calling for another film from Riley.
The movie opens with Cassius ‘Cash’ Green (Lakeith Stanfield) getting a telemarketing job at a company called RegalView. Cash, who is desperate for cash (Ha Ha) takes the job although he hates it. He, just like any young man his age, contemplates his true purpose in life and how it will make a difference in other people’s lives. While at RegalView, Cash meets Langston (Danny Glover) who gives him some key advice on how to sell numerous products by using his “white voice”. Once Cash masters his “white voice” and becomes the number one seller at RegalView, he is promoted up the corporate ladder and becomes a “power caller”.
Just when things seems to be looking up for Cash the conflict of the film begins. His friends, Squeeze (Steven Yeun), Salvador (Jermaine Fowler) and girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson), who also work at RegalView, plan a protest to unionize the worker’s rights at the company. Cash is then put in a dilemma where he must choose between the newfound wealth of his new job or his friends/girlfriend. Coming to a soul stirring conclusion, he chooses to continue at his new job much to the dismay of his friends/girlfriend. But as the saying goes, “The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.”
While working as a “power caller” Cash finds out that he won’t be selling normal products to people anymore but slave labor to large conglomerates which, not surprisingly, he’s good at. Cash’s conscious begins to get the best of him by questioning his motives, but before he gets a chance to act on those motives his new boss Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), who had been noticing Cash’s recent sell’s numbers, invites him to a house party that will change Cash’s perspective on life forever.
The social commentary in this film is all in the open but yet eerily hidden. Riley relates certain instances that occur in Sorry To Bother You to events that are happening currrently in the real world. For instance, throughout the film there is a show that people watch called “I Just Go the Sh*t Kicked Out Of Me” which shows society’s obsession with violence and how it’s seen as entertainment now. There’s also a commercial which is shown continuously called WorryFree which is a penal system set up as a vacation getaway that people would enjoy. You may have to watch the movie a few times before you get its true meaning.
I give Sorry To Bother You 8 stars out of 10 stars.