The whitespeak-from-black-lips and coitus-interruptus garage door gags having been tipped in the trailer, precious little is left to laugh at in this edition of amateur night at the multiplex. Telemarketers as targets from which satire flows eternal were spigotted about the same time as mall cops, and that’s not all this jammed-scattergun approach to comedy has in common with the terminally incoherent Paul Blart. It helps, when making a satire, for the filmmakers to clearly define and develop the subject to be ridiculed. But the majority of what we’re told about the futuristic, government-run Worry Free Living slave labor program comes from a television commercial. In an attempt to say something important about the human condition, rapper-turned-director Boots Riley spends most of the time landing face-first on the canvas. Lakeith Stanfield plays the part with all the apprehension of a pup caught scarfing dinner from off the table. His time in the star’s circle will soon come. Your time would be better spent downloading Putney Swope. (2018) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.