Written & Directed by Boots Riley

LaKeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Steven Yeun, Armie Hammer, Danny Glover, Jermaine Fowler,  Omari Hardwick, Terry Crews, David Cross (voice), Patton Oswalt (voice)

In an alternate and slightly dystopian world – lives Cash (Stanfield). He lives in his Uncle’s (Crews) garage, with his girlfriend Detroit (Thompson) and is months behind in rent. If his Uncle cannot pay his mortgage soon, he will be forced to sell his home and work for the mega conglomerate WorryFree, where he will essentially be a ‘slave’.

Cash takes a commission based job at the call centre RegalView, and finding it difficult to connect to customers due to his heritage, meets fellow person of colour, Langston (Glover) who teaches him to use a ‘white voice’ to sell products, and he  starts just that with his (Cross). He soon finds himself in good graces with his bosses, and is promoted to the position of Power Caller. At the same time his work friends ‘Sal’ and ‘Squeeze’ (Fowler and Yeun), as well as Detroit who now work there too, are fighting to unionise RegalView. When he starts his new job he must try to work out what is more important; his ethics, or the massive amounts of money he is making as Power Caller.

Strange absurdist comedy from first time writer/director Riley is an interesting watch. I’m not the biggest fan of absurdist films, so my review ‘might’ be a little bias. First, I will commend the direction by Riley – who has some impressive camera use. There were great use of techniques such as fast panning, fading, and the famous dolly zoom.

Stanfield is a sound lead, and the character of Cash is likeable, with good intentions put into a tough situation. Some of the characters around him are perhaps a little underwritten and some big names such as Crews and Glover are underused. Yeun, has gone from strength to strength since leaving that zombie show, and here is no different. His character who is the catalyst for some of what happens is a great part of the movie.

Now this is where I am unable to relate to the movie, but I felt that it might have done a disservice to the black community due to Cash’s ‘white’ voice being what helps him succeed. The fact the movie predates some crucial movements in the black community, might mean it has aged a little poorly, despite it being 6 years old. If you are reading this and are part of the black community, I would love your interpretation on this.

There is also the unfortunate casting of Hammer, who also has had his controversy in recent years too. He is fine here, but it is difficult to see him on screen now.

The third act, in which the ‘reveal’ of the ‘future employees of WorryFree’ occurs, was a little too absurd for me – but it might work for those who enjoy this type of film.

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