Sorry to Bother You

Even though I generally love my superhero films and big blockbusters, I still appreciate really original films when they come along. With that appreciation comes a want to support them, especially if they have some unanimous praise attached. 

Sorry to Bother You is one such film. It stars Lakeith Stanfield, who may arguably be the best part of this previous season of Atlanta, and it looked zany from the initial trailers.

Originality is something it has in spades, for better or worse (mostly better) as it's easily one of the freshest films of the year thus far. Being an indie film, I was slightly worried it would be overly weird for the sake of doing so, but in hindsight it only has a handful of scenes that are absolutely bonkers, and even then they're not the biggest shocks given how the film has constructed itself before. 

It may not be the Comedy of the Year that I was secretly hoping for -- it gets less and less funny as the film goes on -- but it does warrant a viewing simply to support the artform, give the ultra-talented Stanfield a hit, and because it's wacky fun. 

Sorry to Bother You is a film that I have to not explain fully or else it ruins it. Cassius Green (yes, that's wordplay), played by Stanfield, is looking for a job and is a lower-income black man in Oakland. He finds a job at a telemarketing company where he discovers success by using his "white voice" and the film runs with it from there. If that sounds racially charged, it's not as aggressive as it might seem and the film has fun with it. It's certainly not as black and white (pun not intended) as The First Purge was a few weeks ago, and this movie has good intentions behind it. In addition to Stanfield being his usual subdued, but weird self, we have a wonderful cast. Tessa Thompson, who seems to be everywhere these days, is delightfully zany, and Armie Hammer gives probably his most entertaining performance yet as a crazy billionaire. Cassius' "white voice" is played by David Cross, which is a genius move in and of itself, and there were times that I laughed simply because it felt like Tobias Bluth was on screen about to claim himself an Analrapist. 

She escaped from Westworld! Good for her!

Watching those Atlanta Emmys come in ^^

Sorry to Bother You is a funny film, but I hesitate to say it's hilarious. There are hearty laughs and I felt like most of the jokes landed, but they get more and more sparse as the film goes down a darker hole. That was likely part of the point, but while it definitely comes across like a comedy, I struggle to say it's even one of the funniest of the year because the jokes are intermittent after the first 30 mins. Those that do land are chuckles or a well-earned smile but I'm not sure anything had me laughing hard save for a compliment "battle" between two guys. Near the end it begins to go delightfully off the rails in an unexpected turn that you won't see coming, but, again in hindsight, wont be surprised by. It's the type of plot development that will cause people who aren't enjoying themselves to shake their head and leave and people like me who were having a good time shocked, but joyful for how the film would wrap up. 

Unfortunately that may be my biggest complaint about Sorry to Bother You is that it feels long at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Sometimes I attribute this feeling to just the sheer amount of films that I do see, but it felt like the climax (i.e. the twist) happened and then we still had 20 minutes of film and wrap up left. Perhaps that's just me being picky but a part of me feels that a trimmed down version with a few odd/unnecessary thing removed would help. It's ultimately the result of the film trying to juggle too many weird balls at once and over-stuffing the runtime with metaphors and plot lines. None of it ever destroys the experience, but I just felt like it was too much at times.

"Did YOU see The Lone Ranger? Yeah...neither did anyone else."

I likely didn't enjoy Sorry to Bother You as much as most critics did, but that's ok. I appreciate the hell out of it for what it is and am excited to see Stanfield get a leading role. And Hammer get a fun role for that matter. It's craziness won't be for everyone, obviously, but it's original, takes risks, has fun, and wants to simultaneously show you a good time and tell you a crazy story. How can you hate a film with intentions as positive as that? 

CONS

• Tried to juggle too many things (metaphors, callbacks, plotlines, etc.). 
• The effect is that the film is slightly too long and some scenes aren't necessary
• Not as funny as I'd hoped because the joke count is somewhat low
• Wrap-up felt like it took a while

PROS

• Highly original and entertaining (and worth your $$) in that regard
• Lakeith Stanfield does fantastic
• The rest of the cast -- specifically Thompson and Hammer -- are excellent too
• David Cross as the "white voice" for Cassius was genius
• Nearly every joke hits to some laughable degree
• Awesome soundtrack and style of filming. Adds to the character of the film
• A crazy story that goes off the rails in a fun, but unpredictable way. I had lots of fun with it

Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10