D of comedy, satire and sci-fi

atures so prominently in the film’s loopy final act. Dialogue crackles, from a workplace protest that spires one young woman to gush, “That scene was crazy, ke Norma Rae!”, to the Machiavellian CEO who perceives nyone who can analyse a problem and adapt as “a nning raccoon”. The unlikely hero is Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield), nown to friends as Cash.

He lives in the garage of his uncle Sergio (Terry Crews) ith activist girlfriend Detroit (Tessa Thompson). Four months behind on the rent, Cash must find ternative accommodation unless he can raise the balance ithin two weeks.

He hopes a job as a telemarketer at RegalView ongside friend Salvador (Jermaine Fowler) will answer s prayers. “We’re not mapping the human genome here,” eadpans Cash’s manager (Robert Longstreet), who structs him to follow the script and maybe — just maybe he will be promoted to a Power Caller desk on the top oor. Cash’s tentative first efforts to engage customers are dispiriting failures until an experienced co-worker (Danny Glover) imparts sage words.

“You want to make some money here, read the script with your white voice,” he whispers.

Sure enough, when Cash (now voiced by David Cross) erases all traces of Oakland from his patter, he secures his first sale . . . then another.

In record time, he is courting the attention of Mr X (Omari Hardwick), who manages the Power Caller team, and Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), CEO of futuristic employer WorryFree.

Sorry To Bother You plays with madness as Stanfield’s everyman becomes complicit in modern-day slavery on a grotesque scale.

Hammer has a blast in a small supporting role while Thompson is poorly served as the film’s female lead but she relishes her character’s standout scene of performance art, which incorporates dialogue from the 1985 martial arts film The Last Dragon.

Writer-director Riley holds firm to his ambitious and outlandish vision, and occasionally draws blood with his barbs.