Sorry to Bother You
Entry updated 22 September 2025. Tagged: Film.
Film (2018). Significant Productions, MNM Creative, MACRO, Cinereach, The Space Program. Written and directed by Boots Riley. Cast includes Terry Crews, David Cross, Jermaine Fowler, Danny Glover, Arnie Hammer, Omari Hardwick, Passon Oswalt, LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson and Steven Yeun. 112 minutes. Colour.
"Cash" Green (Stanfield) is struggling in his new role as a telemarketer, until a colleague advises him to use a "white voice", which immediately results in a spike in sales. Despite joining a union with his girlfriend Detroit (Thompson), Cash's success leads him into being recruited into the upper echelons of the company RegalView, on condition that he uses his "white voice" and hides the fact that he is Black on calls (see Race in SF). He becomes privy to the company's secret arms dealing, and virtual Slave labour, in which employees sign a life contract and are housed in factories.
His newfound material success causes him to turn a blind eye to these issues, leading to the end of his relationship with Detroit, who joins an activist opposed to RegalView and the company that supplies the labour, WorryFree. At an exclusive WorryFree event, Cash is forced into a party turn, rapping for the white guests and execs. Snorting what he believes to be cocaine, he becomes disoriented and meets an "Equisapien", a human/horse hybrid that WorryFree have created using a white powder, in order to form a stronger and more obedient workforce. Cash worries that the powder he snorted will have this effect on him, but WorryFree CEO Steve Lift (Hammer) assures him otherwise.
Having become an internet meme when footage of him being hit on the head when crossing a picket line goes viral, Cash attempts to use his celebrity to spread word about the Equisapiens, humiliating himself on a game show to do so. His plan backfires as they are acclaimed as a great scientific breakthrough, and Steve becomes a lucrative hero to many. Reuniting with Detroit and union organizer Squeeze (Yeun), he helps to free the Equisapiens from WorryFree. Back at home with Detroit, Cash begins to turn into an Equisapien himself, having been lied to by Steve. He leads the other hybrids in an assault on Steve's home.
This is musician and rapper Boots Riley's debut as a director, and it bears hallmarks of a first film in its undisciplined, scattershot approach. However, the changes in tone and wild plot turns are part of the film's considerable appeal, with genuine surprises such as the sudden appearance of the horse/men. Riley will no doubt make more focused films in the future, but perhaps not one with so much vitality. The satire on both race and labour relations, from a director who identifies as a Communist, is blunt and cutting, and also very funny. [CWa]
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