Sorry To Bother You is certainly bold and original, and there are good elements, but the third act just makes it feel absurd. The humor is the best part - there are several laugh out loud moments, and the humor intelligently uses the societal backdrop to great effect in its comedy. I was really enjoying it through the first two acts - Stanfeld is very good, and the symbolism of the society in the movie and themes of exploitation and unionization were really well done. As Stanfeld learned more about the society and continued to struggle between his moral values and individual success, the details of the world unfold and the viewer has a lot to contemplate. Unfortunately, the good build of the first two acts comes crashing down in the third act, which completely comes off the rails and cheapens the emotional and intellectual investment of the first two acts. Obviously the idea of horse people and the way it was presented was totally insane, but what really did it for me was Riley's failure to engage the audience in any way with Cassius' attempt to fight back against the company. All of these wild developments happen... and literally nothing changes? On top of being clearly unrealistic, the third act showed enormous inconsistencies in Cassius' character, WorryFree's structure, and the state of society as a whole. The final two scenes in which Cassius becomes a horse really sealed it for me as just completely ridiculous. There are many good ideas worth considering and it's relatively effective as a comedy, but the third act is far too incoherent for it to be a truly enjoyable experience.
Review of Sorry to Bother You
Sorry to Bother You
(2018)
Despite being amusing and thematically engaging, this is one of the most bizarre, unhinged movies (and third acts) I've ever seen
29 September 2018
Warning: Spoilers