Sorry to Bother You (2018)
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A telemarketer's success in a corporate conspiracy leads him into a surreal conflict between profit and activism.
The story
In a dystopian near future, Cassius "Cash" Green and his girlfriend Detroit struggle to pay rent while living in a garage. Cash takes a job as a telemarketer for RegalView, where he learns to use a "white voice" to succeed. After joining a union protest, he is unexpectedly promoted to an elite "Power Caller" position. In this new role, he discovers the company's dark secrets involving the megacorporation WorryFree. Cash must navigate his rising success and the growing tension between his career advancement and his friends' efforts to organize the workers against corporate exploitation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In a dystopian near future, Cassius "Cash" Green and his girlfriend Detroit live in a garage. Cash finds success as a telemarketer for RegalView by adopting a "white voice." After a union protest, he is promoted to a "Power Caller" role where he learns that RegalView partners with WorryFree, a corporation that uses slave labor and transforms workers into "Equisapiens" (human-horse hybrids). While Cash enjoys the wealth and luxury, his relationship with Detroit suffers as she remains part of an anti-WorryFree activist group. After a public incident involving a soda can becomes a meme, Cash tries to use his fame to expose WorryFree's cruelty on a television show, but the plan backfires, making the Equisapiens seem like a scientific success. Finally, Cash joins his friends in a final stand against RegalView. He breaks into the CEO's home, and while the Equisapiens eventually free him from the police, it is revealed that the CEO lied about the cocaine; Cash begins to transform into an Equisapien. The film ends with a fully transformed Cash leading a mob of Equisapiens to the CEO's house.
- First release year
- 2018
- Runtime (minutes)
- 112
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Boots Riley
- Writers
- Boots Riley · writer
- Cast and characters
- LaKeith Stanfield · Cassius "Cash" Green; Tessa Thompson · Detroit, Cash's girlfriend; Jermaine Fowler · Salvador; Omari Hardwick · Mr. _______, the head Power Caller; Terry Crews · Sergio Green, Cash's uncle; Danny Glover · Langston; Steven Yeun · "Squeeze", a union organizer; Armie Hammer · Steve Lift, WorryFree CEO
- Genres
- science fiction; black comedy
- Themes
- radical class analysis of capitalism; anti-capitalism; labor movement
- Tone and mood
- absurdist; dark comedy; magical realism
- Setting
- A dystopian near future.
- Premise and plot tags
- corporate conspiracy; unionization; telemarketing
- Source material / true-story basis
- The screenplay was inspired by Boots Riley's experience as a telemarketer and telefundraiser.
- Reception
- The film received praise for its cast, story, and soundtrack, as well as Riley's writing and direction. It was a commercial success, grossing $18.3 million against a budget of $3.2 million.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 78 · scale: 100 · review count: 51; PostTrak · score: 84
- Production trivia
- The film's title has a double meaning regarding telemarketing and the difficulty of sharing an unpopular truth.; The character name Cassius Green is a reference to monetary value and Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.; The character name Detroit is a reference to the city and its capitalistic overtones.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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