Sorry to Bother You (2018)

[Jake Lipson]

Title: Sorry to Bother You

Tagline: Destiny Is Calling

Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Comedy

Director: Boots Riley

Cast: LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Armie Hammer, Terry Crews, Omari Hardwick, Jermaine Fowler, Patton Oswalt, Danny Glover, David Cross, Kate Berlant, Marcella Bragio, Tom Woodruff Jr., Michael X. Sommers, Teresa Navarro, Robert Longstreet, William W. Barbour, Tony Toste, Omie Garba, Dawayne Jordan, John Ozuna, James D. Weston II, Molly Brady

Release: 2018-07-06

Runtime: 105

Plot: In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Has anyone seen this yet? It came out in limited release last week and did quite well with its per-theater average. I've only seen the trailer once several months ago and don't really know a whole lot about it, but I've been hearing lots of buzz from people who saw it at Sundance that it's crazy and wholly original. I'm really looking forward to checking it out this weekend when it expands wider and opens here.

 

[TravisR]

It's opening near me this weekend but I don't know if I'm going to get a chance to see it for a while.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw the trailer before “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” and I’m in.

At the least, this movie is an incredible answer to the trivia question, “just what kind of trailer will they show before a Mr. Rogers movie?”

 

[Jake Lipson]

At the least, this movie is an incredible answer to the trivia question, “just what kind of trailer will they show before a Mr. Rogers movie?”

We didn't get Sorry to Bother You one on Won't You Be My Neighbor? because the latter is screening in our mainstream multiplex and the former is going to the arthouse. But on our screening of Neighbor, it was just an assortment of trailers for various coming attractions that didn't seem particularly geared to any one audience. Everything from Mamma Mia! to Ant-Man and the Wasp. I'm not sure the theater quite knew what would work in front of it so just tried a little bit of everything and hoped something would interest somebody.

 

[Sam Posten]

Seeing this tomorrow morning. Hope it delivers!

 

[mattCR]

Hardest I've laughed at a film in a long time. This film is .. it is office space on Acid. The moment you get where it is going to

Spoiler

selling slaves

You are thinking to yourself: damn, that's a dark turn, but then it goes absolutely gonzo ridiculous with the turn to

Spoiler

genetically mutated human-horsepeople due to tainted cocaine

Regardless of all that, the comedy is so dense that a lot of the best visuals and element you will miss if you aren't paying close attention. Still, if you catch them, damn. I know I didn't catch them all, but everything from the art exhibit to the ever changing photos..

Both cringe-inducing and inappropriately funny is the sequence involving our protagonist being forced into rapping.

I imagine there are going to be a LOT of people who HATE this film. But for me, original, brilliant, funny.

Solid A

 

[Jake Lipson]

We have an arthouse (three screens) and a Cinemark multiplex (20 screens) a few miles from each other. You can get from one to the other in about five minutes by car.

From time to time, the Cinemark will book an indie movie in one of its smaller auditoriums which would make sense to be at the arthouse, but with only three screens they can only show so much. Cinemark is currently showing Leave No Trace and Won't You Be My Neighbor? in way of indie titles, and they appear to be doing well.

They had a big standee in there a few weeks ago promoting Sorry to Bother You, but it's gone now, and the movie opened at the arthouse instead. The only time I've ever seen them book the same film at the same time is Dunkirk, when the arthouse had an exclusive 70mm print. But I wonder about why they had the standee there at all if they weren't booking the film. Similarly, today in front of Leave No Trace, the Cinemark showed trailers for Three Identical Strangers and Eighth Grade, even though those films are actually booked to open at thee arthouse and the Cinemark won't be showing them.

It seems a bit bizarre for the big chain theater to be promoting movies they won't actually show.

Anyway, I'll be seeing Sorry to Bother You tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just got out of it and I'm having a hard time believing it exists because I can't quite believe somebody gave Boots Riley the money to make this.

I say that with love. It's certainly the most original movie I've seen this year.

 

[Sam Posten]

Sorry to bother you is one of the best, most original and mind bending movies I've seen in a long time. Characters you care about, a plot that is centered in the problems of today, and a soundtrack that does not quit.

Go see it, do NOT seek out any spoilers before hand!

Apparently The Coup is dropping an official sountrack soon. If anyone can tell me the name of the track that plays at end credits I would appreciate it. It uses the riff from Foghat's "I just wanna make love to you".

 

[mattCR]

Sam-



OYAHYTT
Oh
Yeah
Alright
Hell
Yeah
That's
Tight

 

[TravisR]

Anyone who enjoyed Lakeith Stanfield in this should check him out in Atlanta on FX. If this movie is up your alley than Atlanta probably is too.

 

[Sam Posten]

OYAHYTT
Oh
Yeah
Alright
Hell
Yeah
That's
Tight

Just nabbed that off of Apple Music, thanks!

I really dig that track.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I saw this on Sunday and it was a wild ride. The trailers showed just enough to get me interested, but not enough to show what kind of a ride it is, which was for the better. The whole movie just had this crazy manic energy, along with the feeling that anything could happen at any time. Even though thematically it's very different, the movie had this same sort of batshit crazy vibe that the 1984 "Repo Man" did. I'm maybe the only person in the world who would think to make that comparison, and the movies are very different on just about every level, but it had that same crazy vibe.

I'm really glad I saw it, and that I saw it before I knew much about it.

 

[TravisR]

I just got a chance to see this and it was probably my favorite movie of the year so far.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Sorry to Bother You is re-expanding back into 505 theaters this weekend, which is +417 from last weekend. So, another chance to see it, if you missed it the first time around.

 

[bujaki]

I strongly encourage you to see this film, so far the most subversive and imaginative movie of the year. Swiftian in its satire and with a completely surrealistic twist at the end.

 

[TonyD]

I liked it right up until he snorted the coke and went into the bathroom.

 

[Sam Posten]

That's the modern equivalent of going through the looking glass or taking the red pill. I think it's an excellent metaphor for our times.

 

[bujaki]

That's the modern equivalent of going through the looking glass or taking the red pill. I think it's an excellent metaphor for our times.

That's surrrealism in action.