'Sorry To Bother You' review: What...What did I just see?

Nothing can prepare you for Act III. Nothing.

Remember how last year’s Mother! caused all kinds of controversy because of how the trailers didn’t really seem to indicate how twisted of a movie it really was? Yeah, that has nothing — absolutely NOTHING — on this year’s Sorry To Bother You.

Honestly, after seeing it last night, I’m still struggling to make heads-or-tails of this movie.

Sorry To Bother You comes from first time director Boots Riley — a fact that’s going to blow your mind after you see Sorry To Bother You, because the ideas that go on inside Riley’s mind must be absolutely insane.

Keeping the plot details light since almost everything you see in the trailer happens within the first thirty minutes of the film, Sorry To Bother You follows a down on his luck blue collar worker named Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield).

I mean, to be fair, he is dating Detroit — played by the always incredible and gorgeous Tessa Thompson — so his luck can’t be THAT bad. I would gladly live in my uncle’s garage if Thompson was there living with me is all I’m saying.

That is the case Cassius has found himself in, though. He doesn’t have enough money to buy his own place, so he camps out in his Uncle Sergio’s (Terry Crews) garage and drives an old beater car that could break down at any moment.

But then, fortune finally strikes. Everything changes when Cassius lands a job at a nearby telemarketing company called RegalView. This isn’t just any old telemarketing company, either. It’s owned by one of the wealthiest and most radical (albeit controversial) thinkers out there, Steve Lift (Armie Hammer).

Not only does Cassius get the job, but — after some advice from a fellow co-worker named Langston (Danny Glover) that he’ll sell way more products if he talks in his “white voice” (which is provided by David Cross) — he soon realizes that he’s really good at it.

Good enough to the point where, even after just a few weeks, he’s being considered for a promotion to become a power caller.

Being a power caller is the dream, not just for Cassius but for every employee who works at RegalView. These callers get to ride in a golden elevator every morning, up to an incredibly well-furnished office where they get to see the biggest and best products.

Shortly after realizing he’s on track to make it to that office, it begins causing conflicts with some of his other friends at RegalView — Salvador (Jermaine Fowler), Squeeze (Steven Yeun) and even Detroit. None of them are having as much success as Cassius is having and, after having a few organized meeting, they begin to take a different approach to RegalView.

The first act of Sorry To Bother You plays out in a way that you might expect from the trailers. It’s quick-witted, funny and has a really interesting insight into social commentary similar to a way that Get Out did.

The second act begins moving the film in a different direction that will probably make you say, ‘Huh, that’s kind of weird’ or ‘Well, I certainly didn’t expect that to happen.’ Before seeing Sorry To Bother You, I had heard there was some kind of weird twist in the movie, and I figured this was it.

Then the third act hits and everything goes completely out the window. Step aside The Sixth Sense, Sorry To Bother You has just taken the crown for the most unexpected twist ever put to film — only this time, instead of blowing your mind, it’s either going to make you burst out laughing or leave the theater.

The audience I saw Sorry To Bother You with had both. There was a lot of laughs and ‘WHAT THE F**KS?!?!,’ as well as a couple sitting in front of me who looked at each other, silently nodded and then got up to leave. They didn’t come back.

Before we talk about that ending a little bit more (no spoilers, I promise), let’s first talk about some of the things that lead up to it. I loved, like flat-out loved, the first two-thirds of Sorry To Bother You.

The humor is great, Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson are both giving some of the best performances of their lives as I think they should both receive Oscar nominations (they probably won’t since this movie is so weird and going to turn so many people off, but they still should) and Boots Riley knows how to craft an impressively good-looking movie.

There are a few shots that really stand-out to sort of drive this point home — one, which you see in the trailer, that happens whenever Cassius is on a call with someone and is sort of transported into a different place, and another which involves a bunch of furniture and other items folding in on themselves to reveal other items. Whether you like Sorry To Bother You or not, there’s no denying that Riley is going to have a long career in Hollywood if he keeps giving us shots like that.

The supporting cast, too, is incredibly good in this movie. Terry Crews is only in, like, two scenes and Danny Glover not much more than that, but they both play into their roles well and leave an impression. Steven Yeun and Jermaine Fowler more than just comedic side characters — they actually have their own things going on that add to the story. Then there’s Armie Hammer, who quite honestly is at an all-time high. He’s cast perfectly as he gets to play this insane, coked-out dude with some of the most insane plans you’ll ever here, and Hammer makes that so damn entertaining to watch.

Had the movie kept going in the same direction that these first two acts were leading it, this would be an easy 10/10. But we can’t let that finale off the hook that easily.

On one hand, I’ll give Riley all the credit in the world for daring to be this original and out-there with Sorry To Bother You. He knew exactly what he was doing when he created this ending, and he’s going to get the kind of reactions that he anticipated. It’s also the kind of ending that makes you want to go back and rewatch the whole movie to try and pick up foreshadowing as to what might have lead to this — and the fact that I’m willing to give Sorry To Bother You those rewatches is a good thing.

On the other hand, it’s an ending that’s so radically different than everything else in the movie that it’s so incredibly jarring. Again, that’s clearly the effect that Riley wanted, but it’s also an effect that creates two completely different movies. And, if I’m being honest, I liked the first movie better.

My advice when it comes to Sorry To Bother You is that you need to see it no matter what. There’s a good chance you might hate the movie — you might even be one of those who walks out — but it’s the kind of thing that just needs to be experienced. Don’t go in expecting a witty Office Space-like comedy (although, to be fair, there were some moments that definitely felt like Office Space) — expect an extreme farce-like movie that comes off as something from The Twilight Zone.

My opinion about Sorry To Bother You is probably going to change a hundred different times between now and the end of the year when composing my top ten best list, so who knows where it’ll fall.

I’m so incredibly curious to hear what other people have to say about this movie, though, so please watch the trailer below and then let me know what you thought of Sorry To Bother You in the comments below.