Sorry to Bother You
{5/5} “Stick to the script.”
Sorry to Bother You, released in 2018
Cassius Green, a black man, starts a telemarketing job in order to make some much needed money. When he initially falters, an older black man gives him some advice: use his white voice. This change immediately propels him into the ranks of successful telemarketers, and eventually he becomes a power caller and goes up to the floor above where things are very different. But at the same time his colleagues on the floor below are organizing a strike for better wages. He feels like he must walk through the picket line to go to work, in order to make money to pay rent.
This is a brilliant movie that takes greed to its logical extreme, in the vein of Idiocracy. It’s a bit surreal or absurd, but most of it is probably not as far fetched as I would like it to be.
It’s about how the lure of money can get you to compromise your principles.
One thing that was a bit odd was that you never believed in Cassius’s white voice: for one thing, it’s obviously the voice of David Cross.
The filmmakers made a brilliant choice in casting Danny Glover.
Stars Jermaine Fowler, Steven Yeun, Michael X. Sommers, and Armie Hammer. Directed by Boots Riley (his only movie so far). The soundtrack contains in-your-face songs from the director’s hip hop group The Coup.
This is the 2nd time I’ve seen it. My previous review is here.