SORRY TO BOTHER YOU
R, 105 minutes. Starts Friday at Mystic Luxury Cinemas. Boots Riley’s debut film, the deeply weird and deeply thrilling “Sorry To Bother You,” was the toast of Sundance 2018. And it’s poised to become the most talked-about movie of the summer. The satirical anti-capitalist cri de coeur is the synthesis of Riley’s life and work as a politically conscious rapper and Oakland, Calif., community organizer, and it’s the perfect film for the moment. The absurdist parable set in a dystopian alternate timeline somehow feels entirely plausible, and it hits home. Riley has crafted a world that looks and feels very much like ours, slightly off, a bit theatrical and definitely ironic — until it all goes completely bonkers. He’s cast it perfectly with a host of total weirdos, cool kids and cool weirdos. Lakeith Stanfield, an actor with captivatingly empathetic eyes we haven’t seen the likes of since Bette Davis, stars as Cassius Green, a young striver who becomes the figurehead for the struggle between the American dream and human morality. Cassius is a dreamy but unmotivated type. He lives in his uncle’s garage with his uber-cool artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson), and laments his legacy, what he might leave behind for posterity. But his uncle Sergio (Terry Crews) is breathing down his neck for the rent, and bills don’t pay themselves. In this Oakland, it seems the only jobs available are in marketing and sales. Detroit twirls a sign on the street to finance her radical artwork, and she also dabbles in secret anarchic anti-corporate activism. Cassius is tempted by the lifetime-guaranteed work/life contract at the mysterious company Worry Free, though the violent protests by former workers alleging the company engages in human slavery deters that thought. Instead, he scams his way into a telemarketing job. It’s a dead-end job, and though some of his co-workers are planning a union bid, Cassius is intrigued by the promise of becoming a “power caller.” He receives a tip from a longtime employee (Danny Glover) to use his “white voice” (dubbed by David Cross) on the calls, and soon, the sales commissions are rolling in, and he’s rocketing upstairs in a golden elevator. — Katie Walsh, Tribune Content Agency
THE HAPPYTIME MURDERS
R, 91 minutes. Starts Friday at Niantic. Starts tonight at Waterford, Stonington, Westbrook, Lisbon. This R-rated comedy’s cast mixes puppets with human actors like Melissa McCarthy. She plays a detective investigating the murders of the puppet cast members of a 1980s TV series. A review wasn’t available by deadline.
A.X.L.
PG. Starts Friday at Stonington. Starts tonight at Waterford, Westbrook, Lisbon. A.X.L. is a top-secret, robotic dog who develops a friendship with Miles and is ready to protect his new companion. A review wasn’t available by deadline.