Movies

This Under Appreciated Sci-Fi Movie is Now Streaming (And You Should Watch It)

This movie is good that you’ll want to put your phone on Do Not Disturb while watching it. 

LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You
LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You. Courtesy of Annapurna Pictures

Have you ever watched a movie and thought that you had the whole thing figured out by the start of the second act? A movie so predictable that you could fall asleep for 20 minutes and still not miss anything. If that sounds like the kind of movie that you’re looking for, then unfortunately Sorry to Bother You is not for you. The 2018 sci-fi comedy written and directed by Boots Riley may sound like a polite little movie, but it is anything but. Starring LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Terry Crews, Danny Glover, and Steven Yeun, Sorry to Bother You is an under-appreciated gem that is available to stream on Hulu. And if you haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, now is the time to do it because you won’t find many movies quite like it.

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Sorry to Bother You follows Cassius “Cash” Green (Stanfield), a down-on-his-luck millennial who takes a job as a telemarketer in order to pay the bills. However, working as a telemarketer isn’t as easy as Cash thought it would be as he struggles to make a connection with his customers on the other end of the line. But that all changes when Langston (Glover), Cash’s older co-worker, tells him that customers will respond more positively to him over the phone if he digs deep down inside himself and use his “white voice” to make his calls. After experiencing a windfall of success, Cash soon finds himself wrapped up inside a nefarious corporate conspiracy that’s as unbelievable as it is hilarious. While Sorry to Bother You isn’t too much of a stressful watch to give Gen Z permanent anxiety, it will definitely make you feel just a little more uncomfortable the next time you pick up the phone.

Is This a Bad Time to Talk?

LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You on the phone

In a 2018 interview with NPR, Riley discussed the inspiration behind his film and why he was the perfect person to tell the story. When asked to describe his movie, Riley said he tapped into his own previous work experience, calling Sorry to Bother You an “absurdist, dark comedy with magical realism and science fiction inspired by the world of telemarketing.” The filmmaker previously worked as a telemarketer, which helped him craft his outlandish story while being able to ground the film in truth. And if you’ve ever received an untimely telemarketer call when you were just trying to sit down and eat dinner, then you’d know there is a treasure trove of angst-filled stories waiting to be told.

With a 93% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, Sorry to Bother You earned heaps of praise for its comedic and original storytelling as wells as its sharp satiric look at the flawed culture of corporate America. The movie also poked fun at the cultural differences within America, especially between Black and White people. But while the film was adored by critics, Sorry to Bother You still feels like an under-appreciated sci-fi gem that often gets overlooked when people talk about one of the best comedy movies of the 21st century. But besides delivering a poignant message in a hilarious package, Sorry to Bother You also helped push LaKeith Stanfield into the limelight.

Getting His Chance to Shine

LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You winning an award

Could any actor have played the role of Cash in Sorry to Bother You? Sure, probably. He’s a sympathetic character that is easy to root for and another actor could have filled in and done the job just fine. But Stanfield is one of those actors that takes each of his roles to another level. Oftentimes there are discussions about whether or not somebody has “It.” The best way to describe “It” is to say it’s a coveted quality that some people can strive to obtain their entire lives and never come close to achieving. Stanfield has “It” becomes it comes so causally to him. He is effortlessly entertaining to watch and has a screen presence that just can’t be easily duplicated.

Stanfield’s first acting credit was in Short Term 12 in 2012, a short film which would later be made into a feature length film just a year later. And while Stanfield would go on to appear in films such as Selma, Dope, and Straight Outta Compton, he really began to come into his own as an actor after being cast on the television series Atlanta in 2016. His character Darius may come off as eccentric and oftentimes aloof, yet he retains such a large amount of likability that he becomes one of the best scene-stealers regardless of the situation. So while he may be a supporting character in Atlanta, his star-power is too obvious to ignore. Landing the lead role in Sorry to Bother You not only cemented Stanfield as one of the top actors to look out for, but proved that he was able to carry a movie on his own.

You can stream Sorry to Bother You now on Hulu.