# Sorry to Bother You, by Boots Riley **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764 "2018-08-17T01:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/1 "2018-08-17T01:09:47Z")
Have any of y’all seen this? It is an absolutely bonkers dystopian comedy-horror with vaguely **Being John Malkovich** sensibilities crossed with hard left politics. It’s insane and brilliant, and I’d love to talk with folks about it. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/2 "2018-08-17T02:42:48Z")
Brilliant is exactly the word I used when I saw it. Not a word I toss around lightly, either. It’s not perfect - there are so many individual weird scenes that some of them are bound to clunk - but the satire is very high grade. A must see. This is me showing my age, but what it most reminded me of was the 1976 cheapo movie [Tunnelvision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_Vision_(1976_film)), about a Congressional hearing into a censor-free tv channel whose programs and commercials were outrageous satires. _Sorry to Bother You_ is far more sophisticated yet its targets are disturbingly the same. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/3 "2018-08-17T18:04:19Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Brilliant is exactly the word I used when I saw it. Not a word I toss around lightly, either. > > It’s not perfect - there are so many individual weird scenes that some of them are bound to clunk - but the satire is very high grade. A must see. The quality of the satire really is top-notch. The Elon Musk knockoff character, man. So, a question I had: The anarchists were called “Left Eye,” correct? And the first manager had some sort of weird tattoo over his left eye, and then Langston had an eyepatch over his left eye. What was that about? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/4 "2018-08-17T18:56:29Z")
To your spoiler: I haven’t a clue and from searching nobody else does either. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/5 "2018-08-17T22:30:30Z")
I saw this twice in the cinema. That should tell you all you need to know about what I thought of this movie, given that I have young kids and almost never see movies out. I agree that it was sometimes a little rough around the edges, and totally understand thinking that it went off the deep end a bit at the end. But man, it is so refreshing to see a film where I genuinely have no idea where it is going to go. It felt so experimental, and maybe sometimes that didn’t work, but that’s a small price to pay for the astonishing, mind bending experience when it did. Lakeith Stanfield was so good. His mannerisms and emotional expressions were “off” in this really delightful way that rang so true. And the details were wonderful. I laughed so hard at his experience and reaction to the “VIP room” at the club near the beginning of the movie. That was when I knew this was my sort of movie, and settled in for the ride. Superb satire. That the Silicon Valley style “bro” seemed to genuinely think he was a good guy really made it ring true. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/6 "2018-08-18T02:50:59Z")
I was wondering when someone would start a thread on this here. I loved parts of it, but overall not as much as my group of friends. It’s definitely a type of movie and satire I think we need more of and large parts of it were great, but the last third kind of lost me. And then the final scene was a bit rolleyes. It’s the type of movie I would recommend to people who might “get” it, but not really to general audiences. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/7 "2018-08-18T10:47:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > To your spoiler: I haven’t a clue and from searching nobody else does either. It’s an obvious homage to the deceased musical artist of the same name. I haven’t seen the movie, but that was my first thought and a quick Google search and perusal of Riley interviews confirms that. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/8 "2018-08-18T11:02:58Z")
I meant to edit my comment before I ran out of time to clarify and state that perhaps I got the question wrong and it was more about the connection between those people and how it related to that group and not the origin of the name. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/9 "2018-08-18T19:10:23Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > It’s an obvious homage to the deceased musical artist of the same name. I haven’t seen the movie, but that was my first thought and a quick Google search and perusal of Riley interviews confirms that. I’d never heard of that singer before–interesting! Thanks. I figure he meant something with the eyepatch and tattoo, though. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/10 "2018-08-18T21:05:31Z")
I enjoyed it. It’s one of those movies that will stay with you for awhile. While it was clearly an alternative universe, it only got over-the-top towards the end. Up to that point, everything was realistic. I could totally see something like WorryFree being a thing one day. Seeing Terry Crews made me think of “Idiocracy”. I hope “Sorry to Bother You” will enjoy the same cult following as that epic movie. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sorry-to-bother-you-by-boots-riley/819764/11 "2018-08-18T23:13:42Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > It’s an obvious homage to the deceased musical artist of the same name. I haven’t seen the movie, but that was my first thought and a quick Google search and perusal of Riley interviews confirms that. > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I meant to edit my comment before I ran out of time to clarify and state that perhaps I got the question wrong and it was more about the connection between those people and how it related to that group and not the origin of the name. I know about the singer. But there’s no connection made in the movie to her in any way I could see.