Sorry to Bother You

2018 comedy

Rating: 16/20

Plot: A guy in Oakland gets a new telemarketing job and quickly learns that he has more success when he uses his "white voice." His rise in the company conflicts with the beliefs of his more political and artistic girlfriend.

So far, this is my favorite 2018 film made by a rapper. This is the debut of The Coup's Boots Riley, and his vision, willingness to take chances, and subversiveness are on display in this movie that works just fine as a dumb comedy but has a whole lot to say about seemingly everything that happens to be on the writer/director's mind. Though there are ideas borrowed from elsewhere, this is about as unpredictable as a movie can be, the director closest to Riley's aesthetic and frequent dips into magical realistic waters being Michel Gondry. Of course, that might just be because Gondry is referenced during the part of this movie that is stop-animated and I was tricked into typing that.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen! This movie has a stop-animated sequence. Stop-animated cavewoman breasts, to be specific. And I'm not about to pretend that every single gag or every single idea that Boots Riley has here works because it doesn't. In fact, it makes the entire production a little sloppy. It takes a sci-fi freaky left turn, it has sequences like the main character's rap performance that feel like non-sequiturs, and the one big picture idea at the middle is joined by about three dozen other thrown-in ideas. But the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach Riley has here makes it one of the most vivacious theater experiences I've ever had, a messiness that keeps the audience on its toes. It frequently makes you laugh, at least if you have an appreciation for the offbeat, but it also makes you think. Riley clearly wants his audiences to do both here.

With the whole "white voice" thing ("white voices" voice actors Patton Oswalt and David Cross are perfectly chosen), you'd think there would be a lot about race in this, and there is. There's little pokes at thematic issues that have to do with black expectation, black role models, black athletic prowess, and slavery. But there's so much more. A big part of the plot has to do with unions, for example, and there's all sorts of stuff that ties into corporate greed, selling out, 21st Century entertainment (with a television program that would fit right in with the world Idiocracy imagines), and the art world, none of which are issues that are exclusive to African Americans. The Oakland where all this takes place isn't far off from a realistic innercity, but there's something askew about the setting. It's an alternate reality or its a dystopian future or its something, but it's not really Oakland, at least not the Oakland I saw in those MC Hammer videos from the late-80s. At the same time, the issues being satirized are ones that don't seem far from the reality of the last thirty years, even the most far-fetched ones. Riley might be throwing a ton of ideas at his audience, but they all happen to resonate, creating a kind of satire mosaic that really comes to life at the end.

Speaking of the end, I really need to talk about it. I'm not going to spoil anything, but this does take that sci-fi turn I mentioned earlier. Surprisingly, its biggest surprise--one that involves a special effect that I'm willing to bet would be off-putting to a lot of audiences--connects it with a handful of other movies from 2018. Anyway, this movie has a definitive ending that is satisfying, but Riley then takes it a step further. And then he takes it a step further than that. I'm still processing the last fifteen minutes or so of the movie. I like how things are tied together in a climax--a lot of those divergent elements brought together--but I don't think I like the very ending of the film.

Lakeith Stanfield was in last year's Get Out, a movie called Get Out, so he fits right in with this year's Get Out, too. OK, that's just the brainwashed part of me talking. This really isn't this year's Get Out. Stanfield is really great here though. You like his character even when he's making the worst decisions possible, and he works as this slouching, mumbling everyman. Tessa Thompson plays his artistic girlfriend with giant earrings, and she's just delightful. Danny Glover, the aforementioned voice actors, Terry Crews, and really everybody else just fits into this oddball Oakland world of sketchy telemarketing (as if there's any other kind!) so well. Oh, and Armie Hammer has just the right balance to make his character work. That's another great performance.

I laughed, I squirmed, and I thought. What else could a guy want from a summer movie, right? Boots Riley is a creative force, and I'll be excited to see whatever he decides to throw at me next.