Sorry to Bother You (2018)

I've seen Sorry to Bother You on my Letterboxd homepage many times but, despite it having Tessa Thompson, whom I love, I never bothered watching it, mainly because some of those Letterboxd ratings/reviews were pretty bad. Then Allie over Often Off Topic reviewed it, she talked about how she liked the film, and she really made me want to see it. 

The film is set in an alternate present-day version of Oakland and follows Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield), a young African-American telemarketer who starts using his white voice and quickly rises through the ranks of his profession. He soon finds himself with plenty of money and no morals as it turns out that the company he works for is completely unethical.

I really liked the idea — the economy is ruined, everyone struggles to find a job so someone creates a company that provides food and shelter for lifelong work contracts— and I was interested in seeing how it'd play out. Unfortunately, it was dreadfully executed and it ended up being tremendously stupid, something that gets more and more ridiculous and uncomfortable to watch as the "plot" moves forward, excruciatingly boring and ultimately unwatchable. It is supposed to deliver a message about the working class and the loss of one's identity, but it gets lost in.

The characters are pretty bad too. Actually, to be fair to awfully written character, I should say Sorry to Bother you features non-existing characters as they have no dimension nor depth whatsoever. Although they aren't presented as caricatures —maybe they would have worked better if they had—, they lack any emotional depth and therefore I didn't sympathize with any of them, nor care about them.

The performances, however, aren't as terrible as one would expect with so little to work with. Lakeith Stanfield gives a solid performance in the lead role as he handles the transition from timid loser to selfish prick very well. Tessa Thompson is equally good as Detroit, Cash's girlfriend, although what sticks the most is her earrings. As for Armie Hammer, who is the only one who is given a character that is presented as a caricature, he's definitely having more fun than I had while watching this crap.

As for the film's style, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it as it's very weird and ambiguous, just like the meaning of the film. The camera work is kind of bizarre, which doesn't necessarily mean bad, but here, I'm more inclined to think that as it is flat and detached as if it was the work of someone who does not like films.