User Reviews

As usual, I rented this movie last night to watch and my habit is I knew nothing about it before viewing it. I have not watched the special features on the DVD yet and may not.

This movie was intriguing and then something shifted gears and I started to lose interest .. can't put my finger on it exactly. I fell asleep and finished watching it this morning. After watching the movie, I went back through it to maybe catch a few things I might have missed when sleep was overtaking me and one detail I thought was somewhat ironic (and probably intentionally symbolic though very subtle and ambiguous). In the scene where Penn (Phoebe) is gluing Trump's magazine cutout photo onto her collage, the camera swings over to her dog in front of the television that is on, and the television has an actress with a bag and a different dog than Penn's and she drops the bag into the sidewalk trash bin just as was done by Penn at the end of the movie (a prophetic parallel). It was just a short blip, but an interesting detail, which I suspect I probably missed many other details in this movie that were just as sublime.

I notice that Abdel Kediche's photo is not shown on this website's movie page, which I think is sad. Both Penn and Kechiche did very fine acting and Kechiche is a very nice face to watch. I hope we see more of him in other film(s).

I was unsure of what rating to give this movie since it was not an easy one to get through to the end, plus the nature of the subject content was difficult for me to stomach or believe or fathom. But, I could believe that something like this could happen and how Arabs or Muslims could be easily victimized due to the impact that 9-11 had on our society. This movie gave me pause to wonder if in reality some have been set up to receive blame for a bombing such as Abdel's character would obviously have been after the ... uh ... pieces were put together.

Penn's character (Phoebe) was difficult to personally accept. I wanted to like her, but just couldn't, no matter what attempts were made to humanize her or to explain away her horrid behavior. Yes, she was mentally deranged, but I simply could not lean over the fence to even like her. Phoebe's dog had a symbolic placement, but was more of a pivotal connective tissue to thread things together, which frankly was not as strong a thread as it could/should have been. The short video blocs on the television of Sorry, Haters show that blipped now and then throughout the movie did not convey as much to me as I suspect was intended, which made the title of the movie weak.

So, with the video blips and the one detail I mentioned about the actress and dog in a scene on Penn's television, I'm sure there were many other blip details through the movie that I didn't catch. As a result this movie had a great many details that simply get overlooked in a one-time viewing. Perhaps if some of the detailed blips were a little longer for the viewer's mind to register them, then this movie would have perhaps been more cohesive. This could be why I had started to lose interest .. perhaps too many visual details clustered for my brain to have time to register them with any significance ... or perhaps should have been left on the cutting room floor. Whatever it was, something just went missing for me at some point.

Considering I had just finished watching Hard Candy movie earlier yesterday, which was outstanding ... this made Sorry, Haters more difficult for me to get into insofar as quality, intensity and content.

All in all, I waffled between a 6 and 7 vote here for this movie. Something is definitely lacking in this movie. If you can get past the stage of where you start to lose interest like I did, then you may find you like this movie. I'd recommend it for at least one viewing since it does have merit in the content, and the casting, acting and script were good.

Spoiler alert! Don't read on if you don't want to know what happens. That said, let me see...where do I begin? Robin Wright Penn plays a single, urban New York "sophisticate" who has a job that would have probably gone to a man in a previous era. Clearly an unhappy woman. In addition, she's a great dog lover, so she's betrayed her maternal instincts and gone "mad" replacing babies with puppies in her life. What to do? Ah, yes; more betrayal. Let's see, there's also a noble Muslim driving a cab in Manhattan. OK! She will ruin his life by setting up a terrorist operation for him! Excellent! Wait. Why? "Sorry, Haters" makes sense if you're a religious extremist, or a communist. In short, anyone who hates the West. The "moral" of the story clearly is, if educated women who have been driven "insane" by capitalist ambition will shut up and go away, and take their pets with them, everyone will be happy and there won't be any more terrorism. In that light, the smug, condescending title of this film could also be interpreted as an (unconscious?) letter close and signature, such as...Love, Mom.

that propels this straight-to-video indie film forward. The script is a non-heavy discourse on a post-9/11 real human drama buttressing the broader sad moral-political conflict destroying America. Jeff Stanzler excels in writing an admirable and seriously original indie script which has a quality that gracefully understates the tragic human politics and polemics of disparate personal relationships.

That aside, the role of Phoebe should have been played by a brilliant indie-experienced actress like Renee Zelwegger, Joan Cusack, or Juliette Binoche NOT the post-Madonna rebound bride of Tinsel Town's #1 arrogant chain-smoking ass-wipe. It must be HELL living under his leftist shadow. This (cough) actress is overwhelmed by the complexity of her character and it shows in ALL her scenes causing the tense undercurrent Stanzler has written for Phoebe to be denied its true intricate and absolutely credible revelation. Sandra Oh acts circles around the female lead actress giving necessary credence to the sub-plot straight out of "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle." However, the last two minutes of this film's main drama are two remarkable minutes! Abdel Kechiche's facial expression as he becomes belatedly aware of the depth to Phoebe's socio-pathetic betrayal is amazing acting.

This independent movie of an completely (to me at least) unknown director was surprisingly good, reminding me the sophisticated plots and turns in the way we perceive the characters of the early movies of David Mamet. I recommend that you watch it as a a psychological drama, and not as some general commentary about terrorism.

The movie starts like an immigrant to American relations drama, with a_ little_too_good_to_be_true Muslim cab driver Abdel Kechiche taking for a night ride alcoholic and frustrated TV producer Robin Wright Penn. We soon find ourselves in the typical immigrant drama, with an actual component, as the brother of the cab driver is a prisoner in Guantanamo, soon to be shipped to Syria where he would be tortured or worse. An soon after we start finding out that all this is a set up for a very different type of drama, a psychological one, where the culprit lies somewhere else, and the impact of terrorism in the day to day life comes from an unexpected place.

There are some details in the movie that make the story non-credible, and some of the political touches are too exaggerated. And yet, the quality of Robin Wright Penn's acting, and the delicate balance of the relation in film changing from empathy to stupor and hate and emotion towards the final and brutal twist leaves a very special feeling. Not all corners may be perfect in the story of the film, but there is a level of truth and anxiety about our lives that makes it step ahead of the crowd.

"Sorry, Haters" is a disturbing film written and directed by Jeff Stanzler. In it,d the viewer is taken to meet a lonely woman who is appears to be on a path toward insanity. It combines recent events with the actions of a misguided individual that is bent in destroying a human being.

This is a film that gives an opportunity to Robin Wright Penn to create one of the most complex characters one has seen in movies recently. Phoebe has unresolved issues within herself. She sees an opportunity to redeem herself by destroying Ashade, an Arab taxi driver trying to make a living in Manhattan. Phoebe, who have experienced frustration in her life, plays dirty tricks on Ashade, a kind soul that doesn't deserve what is in store for him.

Not content with eliminating the taxi driver, Phoebe involves his innocent sister-in-law who is an illegal alien. This woman is dangerous; she us a mousy individual who wants to get rid of any threats, real or otherwise. That is why she feels she must destroy Ashade, the enemy she perceives him to be. Also, her relationship with a more successful partner, Phyllis, comes into play. Everything changed with the September 11th attacks, which, in a way, propelled Phoebe into insanity.

Robin Wright Penn is a joy to watch in the movie. She never makes a false move; Ms. Wright Penn is an intelligent actress who gets under the skin of any of her screen characters. It's rather doubtful any other female player would have given life to her Phoebe the way she does. Abdel Kenishe is seen as Ashade, the poor taxi driver singled out by Phoebe. Sandra Oh who appears as Phyllis is also in top form. Josh Hamilton is not even credited with his appearance as Phyllis' husband.

"Sorry, Haters" is not an easy film to sit through. The best reward for the viewer lays in Robin Wright Penn's portrayal of a disturbed soul.

Interesting title, it turns out that "Sorry, Haters" is the title of a TV program that Robin Wright Penn's character Phoebe is associated with producing. The fictional program has wealthy flaunting the products of their wealth.

As the movie begins we see her needing a cab ride, and she happens upon Abdel Kechiche as Ashade, a Muslim in NYC. Innocently enough Phoebe has him take her to New Jersey where we see her watching a family from afar, then going up to the new Lexus in the driveway and putting large scratches in it. Then, getting back in the cab and going home.

It doesn't stop there, she ends up insinuating herself into his life, going to where he lives, and where he visits the French Canadian wife of his brother who was arrested and deported for the wrong reasons. Phoebe gains Ashade's confidence when she tells him she has connections that will help get his brother free.

The movie is one of those where you can't take your eyes away, because you simply never know what is coming next, and most developments are not what you would expect. It helped overall to view the 14 minute DVD extra with Tim Robbins and several others discussing the movie and what they thought it meant.

SPOILERS. Another character was Sandra Oh, as the big boss where Phoebe works. In fact, Phoebe misrepresented herself, told Ashade a series of lies, on a rooftop pretended to call a lawyer to get the brother freed. Phoebe has problems, and the one time she felt really useful was on 9:11 when her boss was frightened and asked for comfort. Her whole life now has become to try to recreate that feeling, all the while not caring about anyone else. In the last scene, she and Ashade are going somewhere, they pause at the top of subway stairs, puts something in his pocket saying "my parents gave me this, I want you to have it." Then she pushes him down the stairs, a few seconds later an explosion as she walks away. In a final act of terrorism she tosses her dog into an oncoming truck and walks away. She no longer needed the one thing that was comforting her.

*** any spoiler will be designated with the ***.

either whoever wrote the story line needs to change it, or the movie itself needs to clarify the time in question as to when the movie takes place, which is in post-911 NYC, and why the characters are interrelated. i'd prefer the latter, since the fact that it's done after 911 is only apparent in one VERY brief 3-second time spot, i.e., when you see the view of New York's skyline from Battery Park, which is where you'd see the WTC towers that are now gone. (we have a plethora of unread, stupid and/or careless, ignorant young citizens in the US today--in 2012--who would not recognize Battery Park or have one inkling that that is where you'd plainly see the WTC in the past).

the plot is confusing if one does not realize that it all happens in post-911 NYC, i.e., not far distant from the time of the attack on our soil. the interrelationship between the main characters, a taxi rider who is a very messed up, lying, scheming, psychotic Caucasian female who at least works in NYC (because it is not clear that she lives there or if she herself saw or even, in her psychosis, remembers the attack), and Muslims--particularly the Allah-Akbar-praying taxi cab driver--he, himself and his also confusing family and their plight--does not clearly spell out why the woman has the driver going on wild goose chases both in the city and outside of it, in order to get her to the places where she does her dirty deeds and in so, ends up stealing money from the cab driver that is truly part of the plot, but it is not clear as day, and it should be.

the reason that the cab driver so badly needs the $500 that the psycho-woman stole from his glove compartment is to cover legal and other related expenses to help his brother, whom he genuinely and earnestly explains is in Syria and who is at great risk of torture. you see, the rider, the psycho-woman, uses that knowledge as the reason behind her theft. she also uses the knowledge to create and to maintain her grandiose characterization of a highly-paid and powerful executive of a TV station in NYC with a stupid, vapid name that tells the viewer nothing at all other than to reflect upon our times and our high school graduates with who-knows-what-fires synapses in the layers of gray matter hiding out in their craniums.

the worst thing about this movie is that it's not clear that all that happens in it, as well as why the characters do what they do or else are who they happen to be, relates to 911. so then, if one of the multitude of rap-taught MP3-playing-loudly-through-the-earbuds HS graduates (that should have dropped out of school when they were 10 years old, so that they could become crop pickers to replace illegal Mexican aliens in CA), watches this movie, they will not know what it's about or why the events unfold the way they do. they just will not understand it. and neither will you, if you don't realize that there is no longer a World Trade Center made up of two skyscrapers that just are not there anymore, and so far, at the time that the movie centers on, have not yet been rebuilt. because, as indicated above, the only time in the entire movie that you know it is when you can see, for too short of a time, from Battery Park, vacant ground where the towers stood in Manhattan. in other words, it is presumed that you KNOW that the motivation behind the woman rider's actions and the family ties that are shown to us, those of the Muslim cab driver, have a legitimate place within the movie. otherwise, the movie cannot stand on its own. nothing would make sense if you do not know the time frame. even the characters' interplay would not make any sense.

*** SPOILER: the ending of the movie, when the taxi cab driver carries a bomb that explodes in a subway station and who he realizes too late will kill innocent passengers, as well as himself (thanks to the psycho-woman and her hatred and delusions) cannot be understood unless one knows the time and context of this movie.*** END OF SPOILER.

all in all, i think that this movie is vague. the most i can say for it is that it reflects the hatred one feels creeping under their shirt collars as they walk about the massive, darkened cities of the USA that have become too dangerous and depressing to live in. it shows madness. it proves that manipulation and crime pay (theft) and that keying cars pays as retribution (for imagined deeds done against you, but which are not factual and are imagined). it shows that America has turned upside down in madness, as well as that it shows the life that Allah-fearing Muslims live (insanely, as is their choice, in the 7th century rather than in the 21st), what with prayer to Mecca required five times a day, even if they live in Egypt and happen to be rioting in the streets for democracy. ("prayer break! then we go back to the shaking of fists as we run in crowds in the street, into the view of the ABC, CBS and NBC World News TV cameras").

i tend to rate movies, particularly indies, higher than one usually finds here on IMDb. but in this case, for this movie (the title of which is also confusing), so strange if one does not know CONTEXT and the TIME it happens in, the maximum number of stars i can give it is only three out of ten.

3/10 by karen dallas hartig, chicago, may 2012

Ah, I thought about five minutes after the film ended, so THAT'S why they put a picture of the World Trade Centre attack on the cover! It's not immediately clear why, but I appreciated being allowed by the director to puzzle it out on my own. I suspect that's the whole point of this film?

There's almost no mention of 9/11 in 'Sorry Haters', a fact that I appreciate, because I watch movies for the drama and not for the cold, hard facts. But in the tradition of all great dramas, the makers of 'Sorry Haters' have managed to make a total fiction tell us some hard truths about 9/11.

This story is one big metaphor for the dynamics between the West and Middle East. The West is embodied by Phoebe and the Middle East, by Ashade. On the one hand, Phoebe goes out of her way to stir sh*t because she's brimming with inner tension. It turns out that she probably got this way from a lifetime of being casually tormented by people around her who got what she wanted to get, but was too 'civil' to fight for. Even Phoebe's so called best friend snipes, "I wasn't an accountant, I was even WORSE: a sales rep!" (Oh how nice Philly, you shouldn't have!) The hyper-successful and outgoing Philly practically oozes a constant stream of subtle insults like this, all meant to put Phoebe in her place. Whether she's doing it consciously or not is another question. It's obviously a very ingrained habit, though.

Having been forced to compete brutally with her peers, and even her best friend, Phoebe seemingly doesn't know how to stop until she's clawed her way to the top of some sh*t pile, somewhere in the city. And she's willing to go to desperate measures to do that. It looks like all that competitive spirit has wiped out any trace of sympathy or humanity in her. It's The American Dream gone oh-so wrong... as it increasingly tends to do, these days.

I kept asking myself throughout the film why Phoebe was so bonkers: it was her single minded obsession with, 'I want what she has'. It does make you ask questions about how much you really need any of the things you want.

There's a pretty clear connection between the rise of Islamic terrorism and the invasions of the Middle Eastern by Russia, the U.S., U.K and France over the last few decades. Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq were once more progressive places than they are… before the West started to get antsy about how much oil they were sitting on (or near). Every time we withdraw our troops, having failed, yet another chunk of Middle Eastern progress crumbles away for good. And the likes of ISIL and the Taliban spring up to funnel people's anger and pain into fundamentalism or civil war. Or terrorism. Of course, the problem could be solved (or at least lessened) if the West would just STOP messing about in the Middle East, but why do that when the weapons industry's making a killing from it all too...?

That's not to excuse terrorism - one attack is as bad as the other - but Western nations do like to play the innocent victim even as they go on doing things that they KNOW will add fuel the terrorists' fire.

The western world's compulsion to invade and manipulate the Middle East to enhance its own bank portfolios is very clearly mirrored in Phoebe's compulsion to violate Ashade's personal boundaries. She infiltrates his mind and controls him for the sake of saving her ego. It's insane but she's just like some of the more cutthroat businessmen I've met. She goes to radical extremes because she's bored with her routine, and exists in social isolation. The one-track mind she possesses isn't inherited, it's earned, and the business she works in rewards it.

Just like the Western world, Phoebe seems to 'have it all' but having it all's not enough. She's obviously just broken from living in her cut-throat object-obsessed world for so long. Again, the American supermalls full of dead eyed shoppers come to mind. (Sorry Haters might be interesting companion film for Dawn of the Dead or American Psycho for that reason!).

I also felt that Phoebe's character was strangely sympathetic... which is a real feat considering her actions. Bravo to Ms. Penn for sustaining that balancing act. Most western people will have felt as enraged about the unfairness of capitalism at some point, so it would have been bad to alienate all those people by making her too 'evil'. Many other actresses would have taken an easier route, but Penn keeps you guessing and wondering whether you should take her side.

I agree with the other reviewers who commented that Ashade is a little bit TOO good, though. After all, fundamentalist forms of Islam have always existed and have almost always been quite hostile toward women. It would be silly to dichotomize the Muslims as wonderfully good & pure people, just as it would have been a bit silly to turn Phoebe into a purely heartless killing machine. No one is totally good or evil. So as far as a realistic drama goes, it's a bit of a push... BUT seeing as this is a metaphorical drama, it worked out okay.

While the film opens on a city that's clearly still a bit edgy after 9/11, the ensuing tale neatly answers the question of who planted the insane IDEA of 9/11 in the minds of terrorists in the first place. Maybe it was someone like Phoebe who took "my family, my whole world" away from a stranger. Most acts of war and terror are like that, when you think of it - they're all just an externalization of the sound a mind makes when it pops.