Don’t Be Sorry

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By Tom Pacak

What a very original and crazy movie this is! First, you know you’re in for a wild ride when a film or TV show has the star presence of Lakeith Stanfield. “Sorry To Bother You” is no exception. Stanfield, star of “Get Out” and FX’s “Atlanta” adds another unique achievement to his resume with “Sorry to Bother You.” A film that throws very strange twists and turns at you that you’ll have to wipe your eyes to believe it.

I’ve seen a lot of artists try to catch the originality and dreamlike atmosphere that screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) puts in his scripts. Boots Riley is probably the closest director to come close to making a Charlie Kaufman film. This is a film that starts off slow in its first act, then drifts into a direction that nobody would have ever thought of.

“Sorry To Bother You” opens up in an alternate present-day Oakland. Cash (Lakeith Stanfield) struggles to make ends meet. He has a loving and artistic girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson) who wears strange earrings with different phrases on each ear. Cash is someone who hasn’t really found his calling or talent. He will soon. He’s so desperate for a job, that, during a job interview, he lies about getting employee of the month from a previous job. Keep in mind; the job he’s applying for is telemarketing. I imagine the requirement there is having a beating pulse.

Cash finally lands a job at RegalView; a telemarketing company that sells used encyclopedias. The building has a gold elevator only for the best telemarketers. Cash starts off on the bottom floor. He sits in his cubicle alone getting denied sale after sale. In his head, Cash and his desk are dropped in on a couple having sex and a man sitting on his toilet. This is a very creative scene that shows how telemarketers really do invade our personal space.

He soon excels when an old-timer, Langston (Danny Glover) tells him to use his “white voice” (David Cross) when selling to customers. He gets so good that his employers soon tell him that he’ll get the pleasure of being a “Power Caller.” Power Callers work on a higher floor in a better condition. 

His friends Sal and Squeeze (Jermaine Fowler and Steven Yeun) despise what the company stands for. In reality, RegalView sells slave labor to a company called WorryFree. WorryFree is a company that’s corporate slavery disguised as a good thing. People go there and sign a Worry-Free contract. In the contract, it says you don’t have to pay your bills, buy food, and even shelter is given to you. The only twist is that you have the work every day for the rest of your life. Cash struggles with the option of either making lots of money or ditching his pro-union friends.

Cash soon starts to lose his mind and body while also succeeding in corporate America. He gets a coke can thrown at his head, which makes him an internet sensation, and even has to swim in a pool of feces for reasons too gross to explain. 

I could go on but I’ll stop here. There’s so much craziness that every filmgoer should see unspoiled.  But watch out for a coked out Armie Hammer as Steve Lift, the CEO of WorryFree, who offers Cash a proposition any sane person would refuse.

The world here is also very out of touch. Cash doesn’t realize that at first. In the beginning, his uncle (Terry Crews) tells him to pay his bills or their house will get shut down. He has no idea how much is uncle struggling. Even the white characters, show this too. When Steve tells Cash to bust some raps at a house party, he has no idea that maybe rap isn’t for cash. He just assumes every black person knows how to rap. “Sorry To Bother You” is a film about being self-aware; even though you might be struggling, other people are as well.

The real rockstar of this crazy, messed up movie is director Boots Riley. Riley has possibly come up with one of the best comedies of the year. Even though “Sorry To Bother You” may not rank up with the greatness of “Get Out,” another ambitious and weird film by a first time director, but it certainly gets its point across. I’m glad that we have great first time directors transferring their unique perspectives into film. Sorry to bother you, but this one is a must see.

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 4


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