We Rarely See Films as Fresh as I Love Boosters

Key Points:

• Boots Riley’s new film *I Love Boosters* marks a significant directorial leap since his 2018 sleeper hit *Sorry to Bother You*, featuring vivid visuals and a compelling lead performance by Keke Palmer as Corvette, a savvy shoplifter navigating the Bay Area’s underground fashion scene.
• The film explores themes of worker exploitation and capitalism through the story of Corvette and her crew, the Velvet Gang, who target a high-end fashion designer, Christie Smith (played by Demi Moore), while also highlighting labor struggles including a unionizing effort in a retail store.
• Riley employs practical effects and surreal comedy to create a unique visual style, though the narrative becomes increasingly complex and loose in the latter half, introducing multiple subplots and characters such as LaKeith Stanfield’s enigmatic Pinky Ring Guy and Don Cheadle’s role in a pyramid scheme subplot.
• A sci-fi element involving a teleportation device and dialectical materialism is introduced late in the film, aiming to connect global worker struggles but contributing to a more didactic and less engaging climax, culminating in an extended chase scene that some viewers may find tiring.
• Despite its narrative challenges, *I Love Boosters* maintains Riley’s politically charged and stylistically bold filmmaking approach, offering incisive social critique and memorable performances, especially from Palmer and supporting cast members, while pushing boundaries of conventional storytelling.