In Sorry to Bother You, Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) is a down on his luck telemarketer, struggling to get by and pay rent alongside his girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). After receiving advice on how to become a better salesman from coworker Langston (Danny Glover), Cassius’ begins to climb the ladder at his company at the same time his friends and co-workers are organizing a labor protest. Cassius soon is forced to choose between his newfound success and doing the right thing.
Sorry to Bother You is a satirical comedy filled to the brim with social commentary and examination. Writer/Director Boots Riley touches upon issues of race, class, ambition, economics, responsibility toward family, and social engagement all within the sub-two hour run time. The theme of class solidarity in the face of growing wealth and labor inequality was the most prominent in the film. From the moment we are introduced to Cassius, his longing for recognition and achievement is made clear. Cassius lives in his uncle’s garage fashioned into a studio apartment and is four months behind on rent. His living situation and meager career are at odds with the dream he has for himself, the same desire that mirrors what we all want from our time on this Earth, a feeling of accomplishment and recognition of our capabilities in whatever field we choose for ourselves. When it comes to finding success however, the question becomes, what price are we willing to pay to reach our goals? This is the question that forms the bulk of Sorry to Bother You as Cassius works his way up to become a “power caller,” an all-important class of worker that telemarkets for important clients at a sky high salary. Reaching this milestone is seemingly the answer to all of Cassius’ problems, from improving his living situation, to finally feeling like he matters, to using his newfound wealth to save his uncle’s home from foreclosure. But success breeds problems of its own, ones that are just as complicated as the ones left behind in the struggle.
As Cassius climbs the ladder of success escalator-style, his friends Salvador (Jermaine Fowler) and Squeeze (Steven Yuen) are working to challenge the labor practices and pay scale of the telemarketing giant Regalview that they all work for. As his friends look for him to stand alongside their struggle for equitable treatment for all, Cassius is increasingly stuck between a rock and a hard place, continuing his meteoric rise in corporate America, while at the same time not forgetting those who he had once been like. Those who escape poverty and hardship often feel a sort of survivor’s guilt when they reach a place where they can finally enjoy the fruits of their labor that are unavailable to those close to them. What responsibility do they have to those whom they’ve surpassed. Cassius tries to convince himself that he owes them nothing, that his well wishes and personal success suffice as a difference makers. But Sorry to Bother You draws the conclusion that it is impossible to serve two masters when one master, in this case Cassius’ high-standing within Regalview, is actively hostile against the other master, which is Cassius’ working-class origins and friends. Cassius finds that success at the expense of the downtrodden is not worth the cost to his morality. Director Boots Riley is providing commentary on our own reality, as income inequality and corporate malfeasance increasingly calls upon people to take moral stands in their lives. What is the appropriate cost of success in your eyes?
Interwoven in the Cassius struggle for class solidarity is the equally vexing issue of the responsibility minorities feel to represent their race through their individual choices and achievements and the pressure that results from it. It’s notable that Cassius felt the need to have one of his first acts, and his impetus for becoming a power caller in the first place, to save his uncle’s home from foreclosure. The expectation that the black person to “make it” is responsible thereafter for ensuring the comfort and lifestyle of those surrounding them is a common one that creates a sort of stifling feeling for those lucky enough to find success and often leads to them rejoining their friends and family back down the socioeconomic totem pole. In addition to taking care of those close to you, successful black people feel an added pressure to be “a credit to their people,” a burden where their own individual actions seem to have an effect on how all other black people are viewed and where their success can open doors for all others that come after them. Mr. ______ (this is not a typo, that’s actually the character’s name), played by Omari Hardwick, makes this plain when he pushes Cassius to meet in private with Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), CEO of Worry-Free, a corporation meant to serve as a stand-in for our current reality’s megacorporations that are beginning to hearken back to exploitative industrial revolution company towns. Mr. ______ pushes Cassius to meet with Lift and hear his offer of employment because of what it would mean for a black man to reach this point, despite what Cassius experiences on the way there. This compromise of morals and, at times, humanity is one that black people face constantly as they grapple with success in a country that can be openly hostile to their existence. That compromise can be something small, that every black person faces, like the use of a “white voice” in mixed, professional settings as Langston advised Cassius to use, or bigger conundrums like the once Cassius faces with Lift. Sorry to Bother You skillfully explores this part of black life, both laying the realities of it bare, and critiquing the need to make these choices in the first place.
Sorry to Bother You is an off-kilter, jarring piece of satire. The humor is often extremely absurdist and for some viewers, may require a good bit of processing after viewing. But while the comedy we are treated to can be over the top, it isn’t pointlessly so. Director Riley cleverly uses the humor to both keep the viewer engaged through heavy exploration and critique of serious subject matter, and to point out the absurdity of the issues he puts into the spotlight. The big reveal of what Worry-Free is up to in the film is the best example of this dual purpose, at once being a real WTF moment of ridiculous comedy, and a scathing critique of where unfettered capitalism and wealth inequality is leading society. The acting in the film also stands out with a stellar big named cast deftly balancing the humor and seriousness present in the film. Stanfield, Thompson, and Yuen standout the most in this regard providing much of the film’s levity while also entertaining when need be. As the saying goes, a lot of truth is said in jest, and in his debut film, Boots Riley uses humor to thoroughly examine the current state of both capitalism and racism, and the direction of our society in general.
Image: Annapurna Pictures
