I Love Boosters Review

A fashion icon becomes the new target of a team of professional shoplifters known as The Velvet Gang. With its worldwide premiere scheduled for March 12th at South by Southwest (SXSW), I Love Boosters is a comedy thriller that will also screen at the San Francisco International Film Festival on April 12th, 2026, and is set to officially release in theaters on May 22nd, 2026. I Love Boosters is director Boots Riley’s second feature film, behind the camera and in the writers' room, having directed and written Sorry to Bother You (2018). The cast includes Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, Demi Moore, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, Kara Young, Jason Ritter, Briana Starks, Sarah Elaine, Angelina David, Jamel Chambers, Alan Z, Nadia Dawn, and Mahdi Cocci. Having only worked with one of these actors previously (LaKeith Stanfield in Sorry to Bother You (2018), this was a very unique experience and performance from all the everyone because of Boots Riley’s stylistic decisions regarding his combination of surrealistic political satire and absurdist dark comedy Speaking of Boots Rileya and his style, that is the most prevalent aspect of the entire film... which both hurt and help in many ways. From the start of the film, it’s clear that Riley has complete creative control, with interesting special effects, wacky characters, and original story beats. This is a heightened version of Boots Riley, who wrote and directed I’m Sorry to Bother You. However, this does detract from the characters. Although I tried to keep track of all the kooky and fun characters, it was hard to remember their names and their motivations. The only ones who didn’t get lost in the film were Keke Palmer, Poppy Liu, and Demi Moore, all of whom delivered great performances and portrayed their characters with depth, allowing the audience to root for or against them. Sadly, this means that pretty much everyone else was a bit of a throwaway character, except for a few memorable moments, which were plentiful.  Memorable moments are what Boots Riley did best in this film. There are countless scenes and interactions that I vividly remember from the film. Do I remember the context of all of them? No. Do I remember all the characters in these moments or their dialogue? No. However, do I remember the visuals and plot twists? Yes! Boots Riley does some incredibly impressive work here and concludes the film with a powerful message that many directors today would be hesitant to include, so I applaud him for both of these aspects tremendously. However, all of this aside, this is a film that is visually appealing, not in a Wes Anderson way, but in the way that you’ll never really know how a scene is going to end, and what’s going to happen next. Overall, I would recommend this film to someone who is a big fan of Boots Riley’s other work, but only if they truly enjoyed it, especially the ending. I believe that most casual moviegoers unfamiliar with Boots Riley's previous work will likely leave this film feeling confused and overstimulated.