Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that characters in this movie work in the rap-music industry, and there are excerpts of profanity-laced music (and hints that the cynicism and negativity in rap has tainted their outlooks). There is talk of adultery and broken families, and the plot turns out to be a tricky sort of revenge-thriller, which defies traditional Hollywood morality views of good and evil (especially in the outcome). Justice is not served and may never be. There is an undercurrent of September 11, 2001, although the event is never even mentioned by name.
Families can talk the characters and how almost nobody -- the Syrian-Arab man, the high-powered TV producer, the Asian mistress -- conform to our expectations. But the movie's manipulative antagonist relies on stereotypes and prejudices to make sure her scheme works out. Do you believe her motivations? How easily do you think a conspiracy like this could happen in real life -- especially in a national climate of fear and "Homeland Security?" Some people believe 9/11 was a big setup. Do you think this movie supports that conspiracy mindset? Why do you think it's named after the fictitious TV show?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Charles Cassady, Jr.
Though packaging makes it look like a "can't we all get along?" piece about New York City after 9/11, SORRY, HATERS is a tricky blend of drama, thriller, and political-social commentary, never quite finding its feet in any one camp. But it's fast-paced, bracing, and watchable all the way to the especially startling finish. The script fools you in a most sinister manner by playing on negative expectations and stereotypes of two reviled minorities: Arab-Islamic men and American career women.
Ashade (Abdellatif Kechiche) is a Syrian Muslim driving a taxi, even though he studied for a scientific-industrial career. The meager money he now earns he uses to try and save his brother from being deported by American immigration officials back to Syria (and likely torture) for very iffy terrorist ties. Meanwhile he protects his brother's wife and little child. His taxi is hailed in the city by Philly (Robin Wright Penn), a stressed and sharp-tongued woman who exposes Ashade to some uncomfortable emotions. She talks scornfully about her high-flying job as producer of Sorry, Haters, a top-rated TV show in which rap-music stars flaunt their wealth, girls, and success, while she has the reluctant taxi convey her to the suburban house and the family she says she lost when her husband dumped her for a Chinese tutor.
Soon she goes too far. She starts to tempt Ashade to commit a terrorist act, with her help, to protest his brother's ordeal. Ashade is horrified and glad to be rid of this scary customer. But he's not rid of her -- as he discovers that she's stolen all his hard-won earnings. Knowing where she works, the desperate cabbie goes on the offensive.
Not many people got a chance to see Sorry, Haters in theaters. It's definitely not a crowd-pleaser, though it has overtones of one of the biggest and much-imitated thrillers ever, Fatal Attraction, but with a Homeland Security twist. Furthermore, Fatal Attraction shot different finales (check them out on the DVD) to try out on test audiences until they found one that appealed to mainstream tastes for a "happy ending." In contrast, Sorry, Haters doesn't wuss out.
Questions remain, however, about the Robin Wright Penn character's true motivations and values. What exactly is she getting out of her scheme (besides a deviously nasty premise for a movie)? It may be helpful to try listening to the commentary track on the DVD version, with the actress and writer-director Jeff Stanzler (who also thanks the viewer abundantly for watching at home, since theatrical distributors barely touched this troubling film).
But Sorry, Haters packs a wallop in its portrait of people condemned by society's innate prejudices -- and the viewer's, since some of our assumptions about Philly and the type of woman she is turn out to be completely wrong as well. The lean, straight-ahead plotting should keep teen viewers watching, even if this doesn't have the youth-market appeal of an ex-from-hell thriller like Swimfan.
A femme fatale leading a man astray is a classic Hollywood situation, handled with discretion in great older thrillers such as The Lady from Shanghai, Double Indemnity, and Pretty Poison (and more recently sexed- and sleazed-up in Basic Instinct for the adults-only crowd). You could watch those film noir classics with older kids, and ask them how the post-September 11 climate adds an extra note of paranoia to Sorry, Haters.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentMostly talk, but that includes when the manipulative antiheroine challenges Ashade to have sex with her (dropping her pants while she's at it). |
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ViolenceA man threatens a woman with a knife, and people are cut both accidentally and on purpose. Explosions kill people and a dog is cruelly slain, both just barely offscreen. |
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LanguageThe F-bomb dropped by an angry Ashade. The heroine disapproves of profanity, but uses the racist term "Jewboy" among others, and her rap-music TV show has as much obscene language as bling. |
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Social BehaviorThe female lead is borderline psychotic in her vengefulness and outwardly racist -- a nightmare portrayal of a driven career woman as predator. There may be some kind of ironic statement intended in that the white American woman embodies the all-consuming, homicidal rage over which Arab and Muslim men are accused. She tries to attribute her pathololgies to an especially twisted take on the public mood on September 11, 2001. Ashade, who never wanted any trouble, is driven to violence by her, despite his attempts to resist. Ironically, both are supposed to come from very religious backgrounds. In the end the viewer's judgments are on trial here. |
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CommercialismRap music and a fancy new SUV are part of the plot. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe heroine smokes. |
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