Sorry to Bother You

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Sorry to Bother You

R

2018

1h 45m

Comedy

Fantasy

Sci-Fi

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

93%

Tomatometer

308 Reviews

70%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory. As Green's career begins to take off, his friends and co-workers organize a protest against corporate oppression. Cassius soon falls under the spell of Steve Lift, a cocaine-snorting CEO who offers him a salary beyond his wildest dreams.

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Critics Consensus

Fearlessly ambitious, scathingly funny, and thoroughly original, Sorry to Bother You loudly heralds the arrival of a fresh filmmaking talent in writer-director Boots Riley.

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Hannah Giorgis

The Atlantic

Sep 10, 2019

Sorry to Bother You is as much a character-driven story about the gentrification of Oakland -- and the Bay Area writ large -- as it is an absurdist anti-capitalist fable.

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Jourdain Searles

Bitch Media

Feb 5, 2019

A hilarious, intelligent, and socially relevant satire of American business and capitalism, and hands-down one of the best films of 2018.

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Simon Childs

New Statesman

Dec 20, 2018

While Sorry to Bother You is off-the-wall and hilariously bizarre, its message is firmly grounded in the recognisable injustice of a system whose decadence is seeing it teetering on the edge of collapse.

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Calum Cooper

Source (Scotland)

Jul 14, 2024

The concept is brilliant and the characters, both benign and despicable, are a lot of fun to be around. The colour palette is lustrous, the dialogue is enthusiastically snappy, and the comedy is consistently effective.

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M.N. Miller

Ready Steady Cut

Aug 16, 2022

4.5/5

Stanfield’s talent is undeniable; a method actor at heart and now should become a household name.

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Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

Mar 11, 2022

3/4

If the ultimate goal of Sorry to Bother You is to expose the big-money puppeteers controlling our culture and turning everyday people into corporate, even literal slaves, then Riley was mostly successful.

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AJ C

@RT01910047 Jun 24, 2026

I remember this movie so vividly, I need to rewatch it, I watched it a bunch of times when it first came out. I loved everything about this movie, except the ending. The ending left a really bad taste in my mouth, I know I missed whatever Boots Riley was trying to convey(as far as the ending goes). Ive read think pieces about the ending, and it made so much sense about the charactes transformation. I just feel as though there were already so much messages stuffed in the movie, and the ending was a bit much. But then again, that wouldn't make it a Boots Riley movie and he is not dialing down on his ambitious vision anytime soon.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Jun 20, 2026

Funny in 1.75 hours.

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Sean M.

@shondon1459 May 16, 2026

Saw this as a re-release in theaters and went in blind. The 1st half of film is interesting but not super funny. It does get much funnier by the end and includes plenty of twists. Really enjoyed this one and would recommend

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Cali 4

@Cali404 May 4, 2026

"Sorry to Bother You" is a colourful, humorous, crazy trip that starts well but has little, to no self awareness of when to stop the cocaine fulled madness.

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Gregory N

@GregoryMN May 4, 2026

Absolute trash, a snoozer with the pretension that stating the obvious is insight. Funny, no one complains about the racial stereotyping of "white people". It's just sophomoric. Who made such an unfunny, unimportant, boring flick?

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R. F. F

@RT36265540 May 3, 2026

Peak absurdist capitalist horror comedy.

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Boots Riley

Director

LaKeith Stanfield

Cassius Green

Tessa Thompson

Detroit

Jermaine Fowler

Salvador

Omari Hardwick

Mr. Blank

Terry Crews

Sergio

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Synopsis

In an alternate reality of present-day Oakland, Calif., telemarketer Cassius Green finds himself in a macabre universe after he discovers a magical key that leads to material glory. As Green's career begins to take off, his friends and co-workers organize a protest against corporate oppression. Cassius soon falls under the spell of Steve Lift, a cocaine-snorting CEO who offers him a salary beyond his wildest dreams.

Director: Boots Riley
Producer: Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Charles D. King, George Rush, Jonathan Duffy, Kelly Williams
Screenwriter: Boots Riley
Distributor: Annapurna Pictures
Production Co: Significant Prods.
Rating: R (Graphic Nudity|Drug Use|Pervasive Language|Some Strong Sexual Content)
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 13, 2018, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 9, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $17.5M
Runtime: 1h 45m
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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