Review of Sorry to Bother You (2018) by Philip P — 08 Dec 2018

*Spoiler Warning.

At the heart of this satiric film lies an analysis of capitalism, or, more specifically, the puppeteers controlling our culture and turning people into corporate slaves. While this seems like a simple idea at first glance, this film has a ton of information which can be unpacked from it. It feels like every scene is loaded with satire and double meanings since the world the film takes place in is shown to be a highly exaggerated, absurdist mirror version of our own world. While capitalism remains at the heart of this film, it appears to touch on other aspects such as scenes where Cash's desk drops into the houses of the people he calls, how he's able to sell more at his job by using a "white voice", or how he starts saying the N-word while rapping in front of a group of people at a party. While some people may criticize this approach as unfocused, I didn't feel like an excessive amount of focus was taken away from the capitalism angle. I think it was still at the forefront of the film in terms of its thematic power. Once you begin to grow accustomed to the films unconventional tone, however, the final act pulls the rug out from under you to such great of an extent that it actually manages to make the rest of the film look rather tame by comparison. While I can understand someone being taken out of the film due to how extreme the satire gets, I don't think satire really has a set limit as to how exaggerated it can be allowed to get. Sure, the tone changes, but that doesn't mean it betrays the film which came before it since it's still technically a continuation of the capitalism themes. I also don't think that Riley was going for realism in the sections of the film before the twist. Overall, this film is definitely worth watching, because while its themes may be pretty simple, what makes them stick out is their memorable execution.