Sorry to Bother You (2018) review

In the past, I’ve talked about quite a few films that can be classified as surreal comedies. I’d describe these as films that went all out with a wacky premise while often boasting a strong narrative to back it up. For example, in 2016, one of my favorite films of that year was Swiss Army Man, a film where a man traveled through the woods with a magical farting corpse whose boners were used as a source of navigation. Look a little closer, however, and you’d find a tale about friendship and regaining one’s love for life amidst all the discussions about the corpse’s desire to masturbate when thinking about his friend’s mom (don’t ask…). And for this year, it seems like the most talked about surreal comedy is Sorry to Bother You, in which a young African-American man finds himself sucked into the world of telemarketing once he learns how to use his ‘white voice’ effectively. The film is brought to us by rapper Boots Riley, who makes his directorial debut after nearly three decades in the music industry. And Riley has certainly had quite a career in that industry, mainly as the lead vocalist of the political hip-hop group known as ‘The Coup’. Sure enough, Sorry to Bother You, inspired by Riley’s own history working in the telemarketing business, is full to the brim with political satire that’s seamlessly intercut with all the crazy situations that its main character gets into. And because of this, while it is easily one of those films that won’t necessarily work well with everyone, I won’t deny that this film is an enjoyably wacky comedy that is very much its own thing.

On the streets of Oakland, a young man named Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) struggles to make a living for him and his girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson), often getting harassed for rent by his uncle Sergio (Terry Crews). ‘Cash’ ends up getting hired as a telemarketer for a company called RegalView, where he is told the importance of ‘S.T.T.S.’ (Stick to the Script). However, Cash finds it hard at first to make any sales, with most of his customers hanging up on him just a few seconds into the call. Things begin to change, though, when his co-worker Langston (Danny Glover) teaches him the secret to a successful telemarketing sale, using his ‘white voice’. And so, Cash’s white voice (provided by David Cross) allows him to quickly scale the company’s ranks, eventually managing to get promoted to the company’s most prestigious position, a ‘power caller’. Thus, he befriends fellow power caller Mr. **** (Omari Hardwick; ‘white voice’ provided by Patton Oswalt) and even ends up attracting the attention of Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), the CEO of WorryFree, a company that provides its customers with free food and lodging. However, WorryFree is also established as being quite the controversial business, as their offer comes at the expense of cheap labor that isn’t that far off from slavery. Thus, Cash soon finds himself in a major internal conflict as he finds himself torn between his new life of luxury and his relationships with Detroit and his fellow RegalView co-workers, who organize a strike to demand proper salaries. Things get even more complicated when Cash ends up learning about a dark secret about WorryFree and their plans for those who work for them.

Sorry to Bother You wears its weirdness like a badge of honor, going all out with its surreal humor. Sure enough, this film sports a solid consistency when it comes to that humor thanks to everything from hilarious visual gags to snappy dialogue. This humor is then matched perfectly with a tight script that delves into everything from race relations to one’s fear of becoming a ‘sell-out’. Now with all this said, though, the film does kind of drag a bit at times. While it is under two hours, it also loses a bit of steam by the end despite this being where the weirdest moments occur. Still, for what it’s worth, Boots Riley’s direction is excellent throughout and this is bolstered further by a totally game ensemble cast. Get Out breakout star Lakeith Stanfield shines in the lead role of Cassius while Tessa Thompson more than holds her own alongside him as Detroit, who gets her own unique plotline via her blossoming art career. And then there’s all the great supporting roles from the likes of Danny Glover as Langston, Armie Hammer as Steve Lift, and Steven Yeun as Cash’s co-worker ‘Squeeze’ just to name a few. Admittedly, most of these folks ultimately have minor roles in the larger story, but they all have their standout moments nevertheless. In short, while I don’t necessarily consider Sorry to Bother You to be one of the ‘best films of the year’ as many others are saying, it’s still a very good directorial debut from Boots Riley. If anything, it shows that he clearly has the potential for a prosperous career as a filmmaker to match the prestigious career that he has achieved as a musician.

Rating: 4/5

The Circle (2017) review

Technology has become such a prevalent part of our society in recent years. It has allowed us to achieve many things that seemed impossible before thanks to the many advancements that have been made in fields like science and communication. And yet, at the same time, it always poses a risk, not just because of those out there who seek to use it for sinister purposes but also because of how our lives can often be completely consumed by it. Thus, it’s easy to see why there have been plenty of films and TV shows that have explored the dark side of technology, including Black Mirror and Westworld. And the newest entry to this ‘genre’ is The Circle, an adaptation of author Dave Eggers’ best-selling novel of the same name from 2013. In the director’s chair is James Ponsoldt who, over the past few years, has made a name for himself with a series of critically acclaimed indie flicks, including 2013’s The Spectacular Now and 2015’s The End of the Tour. His latest film is easily the biggest that he’s done to date, especially due to it featuring an all-star cast that includes the likes of Emma Watson, who’s fresh off the $1 billion-grossing remake of Beauty and the Beast, and America’s ‘everyman’, Tom Hanks (in a villain role, no less!). However, despite the prestige of those working on it, what could’ve been a thrilling dark fable on a topic that many can relate to ends up suffering from an underwritten narrative that doesn’t quite have the edge that it wants to have. 

The most powerful corporation in the world is the titular internet company known as ‘The Circle’, co-founded by the charismatic Eamon Bailey (Tom Hanks) and his partner Tom Stenton (Patton Oswalt). It is this company that young and idealistic tech worker Mae Holland (Emma Watson) ends up landing a job at thanks to her best friend, Annie Allerton (Karen Gillan), who also works there. Rather quickly, Mae begins to become accustomed to life at ‘The Circle’, where social interaction amongst the members of its community is greatly emphasized. Mae even manages to grab the attention of Eamon and Tom by suggesting new ways that they can establish a sense of total transparency, one of the primary goals that the company constantly tries to achieve via its vast line of products, including ‘SeeChange’, a series of miniature cameras placed all over the world. However, as Mae begins to become more and more popular amongst her peers, she soon starts to come across some of the more questionable aspects of the company. She ends up meeting Ty Lafitte (John Boyega), the elusive third co-founder of ‘The Circle’, who warns her that the company’s been collecting data from everyone on the planet and could potentially use it against them. Thus, Mae finds herself in a complicated situation over the consequences of everything that she’s been doing for the company, which even starts to affect her relationships with her friends and family.

To the film’s credit, the messages that it conveys are at least timely. In this modern age of social media and the technology that’s tied to it, a lot of people have expressed concern over how recent advancements in technology end up interfering with their privacy. Just look at all the controversies that Facebook has been in over the years when it comes to the backlash over its privacy settings. This film is basically the equivalent of that exact scenario; unfortunately, the overall execution is where the film starts to falter. More specifically, the problem with the film is that it feels very truncated in terms of its plot, especially when compared to the book that it’s based on. For the record, though, at the time I’m writing this, I have not read the original novel. However, I did read through the plot synopsis after watching the film and found some elements from the book that were noticeably absent in the film. Namely, there were some rather dark places that the book went to, and even though she was the main protagonist, there were moments where Mae made some questionable decisions. Clearly, the biggest change between book and film was that the latter decided to not go as dark as its source material and make Mae a more likable protagonist in the process. But while this overall change in tone isn’t that big of a problem, in the long run, it still feels like something was lost in the translation from book to film. There doesn’t seem to be that much to the plot in terms of its overall stakes and certain plot threads come off as being incredibly vague and underdeveloped.

This truncating of the plot also ends up severely affecting its characters. Because the film focuses so much on Mae, she’s the only character in the whole story who gets any sort of character development. Everyone else ends up disappearing from the film for periods of time and, thus, are often sidelined in favor of Mae. The biggest example of this is Ty, who despite being the co-founder of ‘The Circle’ barely factors into the plot at all. Seriously, poor John Boyega gets nothing to do in this film other than to spout exposition. At the same time, if the film’s intention was to have us view Eamon Bailey as a ‘villainous’ character… you don’t get that out of Tom Hanks’ performance. He’s just the same, charismatic Tom Hanks that we all know and love. I can’t even remember a single moment in the film where he acted in a ‘villainous’ manner. His company’s overall intentions are more sinister than he is and as many have pointed out, that sinister nature is there from the beginning. It’s a shame, really, that the film’s characters are so underdeveloped because as I noted before, this film does sport a stacked ensemble cast. And while most of them are fine for the most part (albeit, with a few miscasts here and there (e.g. Hanks)), they really don’t have anything substantial to work with. Not even the bittersweet feeling of watching Bill Paxton in his final onscreen role, in which he plays Mae’s father, Vinnie, who is stricken with multiple sclerosis and ends up getting helped by her company’s health care system, is enough to save this film.

Despite the best efforts of its all-star cast, The Circle, unfortunately, fails to live up to the potential of its themes. And it seems like this is mainly due to how it was adapted from book to film. Again, I haven’t read the book but from what I’ve read about the plot, it’s clear that the film decided to tone down some of the darker elements of the novel, particularly in terms of its overall characterization of its main protagonist, Mae. And even though author Dave Eggers did write the screenplay along with director James Ponsoldt, their method of translating the book to film ends up affecting the plot in the worst possible way. From lessening the overall stakes, and therefore the impact of its message, to limiting the roles of its supporting cast, it makes you wonder if this was a case like the theatrical cut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice where a sizable chunk of the story ended up on the cutting room floor. Right now, the film is sporting a mediocre 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While I don’t think that the film is ‘that bad’ (I’d say the overall RT score should be more in the high 20’s/low 30’s), it still isn’t one that I can really recommend. Because even though the themes that it addresses do correlate well to society’s current paranoia over privacy, it just didn’t hit its mark. And while it is being marketed as a ‘thriller’, it’s severely lacking in that department.

Rating: 2/5