Eight years after Sorry to Bother You announced Boots Riley as one of American cinema's most vital voices, the filmmaker returns with I Love Boosters - and if early reviews are any indication, he hasn't softened a damn thing.
The anti-capitalist heist comedy, which premiered at SXSW to a perfect 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, follows a crew of professional shoplifters called The Velvet Gang as they take aim at a ruthless fashion mogul. It's Ocean's Eleven meets Karl Marx, with Keke Palmer leading an ensemble that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Naomi Ackie, Demi Moore, and Don Cheadle.
What makes I Love Boosters essential viewing isn't just its stellar cast or Riley's trademark visual inventiveness - it's that the film exists at all. In an era when studios greenlight the seventh Spider-Man reboot before breakfast, Riley somehow convinced someone to fund a political satire about the fashion industry's exploitation of workers. The audacity alone deserves applause.
RogerEbert.com's Brian Tallerico praised Riley's ability to "use the light of the impossible to illuminate the truth of everyday life," while Collider called it "essential" for our current moment, noting that "Riley's commentary on the rights of workers and the dream of fighting those in power feels needed."
The film reportedly features everything from a mini-film by "Jean-Luc Dogard" (yes, really) to a Wes Anderson-style car chase, all while addressing the working conditions of overseas factory workers. It's the kind of tonal high-wire act that would break most filmmakers' necks, but Riley makes it look effortless.
