Sorry to Bother You(2018)

Plot Summary

• In Oakland, the company WorryFree advertises free food and lodging at the cost of a lifetime work contract, a practice deemed legal and not equivalent to slavery. A radical group called "The Left Eye" opposes WorryFree by holding protests and vandalizing their ads. Cassius "Cash" Green (Lakeith Stanfield) lives in his uncle's garage with his girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), an artist and Left Eye member. Struggling to pay rent, Cash gets a job as a telemarketer for RegalView. Cash has trouble talking to customers until an older co-worker, Langston (Danny Glover), teaches Cash to use his "white voice". Cash uses the voice to excel at work, and his manager says Cash is close to becoming one of RegalView's elusive "Power Callers".At the same time, RegalView co-worker Squeeze (Steven Yeun) decides to form a telemarketer's union and recruits Cash, Detroit, and their friend Sal (Jermaine Fowler). When Cash participates in a protest at work, he expects to be fired but is instead promoted (as he has qualified to be a power caller). Now in the luxurious Power Caller suite, Cash is told to always use his white voice and learns that RegalView secretly sells arms and human labor from WorryFree. Cash is uncomfortable with the job until he is shown his new salary. As a Power Caller, Cash is able to afford a new car and apartment and pays off his uncle's (Terry Crews) home. Working long hours, he stops participating in the union, and his relationship with Detroit deteriorates. Cash even ends up crossing the union's picket line, and one of the picketers hits Cash with a can of soda (yelling "have a cola and smile, woman!"). The video quickly becomes an internet meme. Continuing to close sales as a Power Caller, Cash is invited to a party with Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), CEO of WorryFree. Lift is seemingly fascinated with Cash and invites him to a one-on-one meeting. There, Lift offers Cash a powdered substance which Cash inhales. Looking for the bathroom, Cash instead discovers a shackled half-horse, half-human hybrid who begs him for help.Cash drops his phone in fear and runs into Lift, who explains that WorryFree is planning to make their workers stronger and more obedient by transforming them into "Equisapiens". The transformation takes place when a human snorts a gene-modifying powder similar to cocaine. Cash immediately assumes he just snorted the substance, but Lift assures him he would not do so without Cash's consent. Lift explains he wants Cash to become an Equisapien and act as a false revolutionary figure among them to keep them in line with WorryFree's goals, offering Cash $100 million for five years. When the five years are up, Lift says he will be able to take a "defusing powder" and return to his normal self. Cash leaves in a panic, still worried he was tricked into snorting the powder. He visits Detroit, who tells him she got a video message from Cash's missing phone. It turns out to be a cry for help from the Equisapiens. To make the video viral, Cash goes on a reality show called I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me! (using his newfound status as a meme), enduring a variety of physical punishments in order to get the video played.The plan backfires; Lift's plot is hailed as a ground-breaking scientific advancement, and WorryFree's stock reaches an all-time high. A regretful Cash apologizes to Squeeze, Sal, and Detroit. The union decides to make one last stand against RegalView, now joined by Cash. The next day, Cash uses a security code from the Equisapiens video to break into Lift's home. He goes to the picket line, where the police show up and start a riot. Cash is knocked out by an officer. Later that night, he wakes up in a police wagon and witnesses the Equisapiens fighting the police, easily overpowering them with their superior strength. The Equisapiens save Cash, thanking him for his help earlier, and run off to keep fighting. Detroit and Cash reconcile and everything seemingly returns to normal-until Cash starts to grow horse nostrils. In a mid-credit scene, a fully transformed Cash leads a mob of Equisapiens to Lift's house. Cash calls over the intercom and remarks "sorry to bother you" before leading the mob to break down the door.

Storyline

• In an alternate version of Oakland, Cassius Green gets a telemarketing job and finds the commission paid job a dispiriting struggle as a black man selling to predominately white people over the phone. That changes when a veteran advises him to use his "white voice," and the attitude behind it to make himself more appealing to customers. With a bizarrely high-pitched accent, Cassius becomes a success even as his colleagues form a union to improve their miserable jobs. Regardless, Cassius finds himself promoted a "Power Caller" selling the most morally abhorrent but lucrative products and services as his connection to his girlfriend and colleagues fades away. However, Cassius' conscience arises anew as he finds himself in the midst of his boss' bizarre world of condescending bigoted decadence and his sinister plans to create the perfect subservient work force with Cassius' help. — Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)