Three boosters find themselves in the middle of an anti-capitalist sci-fi caper in Boots Riley’s hilarious, raucous, and over-the-top satire, I Love Boosters. Presented as the opening selection at the Seattle International Film Festival, it now enters wide release on May 22nd.
In 2018, musician Boots Riley turned his creative gaze to film, releasing the razor-sharp absurdist dark comedy satire Sorry to Bother You. That film shocked and surprised (oh, the reactions in my packed audience) with its odd turns to posit the messages of class clashing, especially in race relations amid the highly entertaining nature of one of the 2018’s best films. In 2023, he made the TV show I’m A Virgo, which I’m sad to say I haven’t seen, but I know it also works as a satire. Now, Boots Riley returns to write and direct I Love Boosters. Like Sorry to Bother You, I Love Boosters aims at a wild class satire within the corporate world. But in no way is it a retread, working as its own wild, uproarious, hilarious, and damned fantastic film, showing Riley continuing as a great new voice in cinema.
Corvette, Sadie, and Mariah are the boosters in the title. Keke Palmer gloriously shines, with Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige also killing. This is a great cast across the board. They steal designer clothes from a high-strung clothing designer, laid perfectly on edge by Demi Moore. They’re to make the biggest heist of their career from a store run by a campy Will Poulter, when it makes an unexpected turn that shifts the trajectory of the film. I’ll leave said alteration to the hows of the plot (though the goal remains the same) for the film, but it opens up to amazing possibilities, and adds Poppy Lui to the cast, along with Ezia Gonzales, a scene-stealer who plays with the ideas of exposition and film self-awareness (and championing unionization). And let’s not forget Lakeith Stanford and… well, I can’t spoil his use. After the screening, Kim called it “yes, and…” the movie. Very true, but there’s a strong undercurrent in the Everything Everywhere All At Once shifts of what is happening and how. It has a sharp, utterly hilarious script; perfectly executed with the best timing and snips from the game cast. 
It’s not all for absurdity’s sake. Boots Riley has so much to say in his surreal stories. I, and the audience, cheer at the pro-union, anti-establishment, questioning the presented reality messages, the powerful taking the art and work from others. Are they subtle? Hell no. Riley shuns your subilty. Instead, heading into sheer over-the-top, Looney Tunes-esque fun rides to deliver the messages, using every trick in the cinematic book to use the medium to the highest form. Boots Riley’s methods are slyly unsound. For sheer production value, ignoring anything else, such as the booming soundtrack and hilarious script, I Love Boosters is a winner. It’s a gorgeous film to see. From specifically designed and colored camera shots and sets (think Wes Anderson with a strong sense of blocks of color, not unlike Point Blank). But that’s not it: sideways skyscrapers, miniatures, stop-motion, Don Cheadle under a ton of make-up, mad science, and so much more. The way all these come together is so well done, and it’s hard not to gush in the connections, but I must just leave you with the inducing “oh that might come” without the context around.
All of this. The plot, the world, the methods, and the acting come together with a burning fire of a film. I Love Boosters, like its predecessor, is a film of a wonderful, heightened reality. Where anything goes just because. It’s the world of Riley, and one just goes with it; bumping along with the fast pace, insane exchanges, weird shifts, and just overall gleeful sense of anarchist energy. When the film suddenly becomes Hellraiser (kinda, and being vague in any detail), at this point you’re already on board with a “okay, we’re doing this now,” or you got off the oddity train twelve “well that’s weird” statements ago. Sorry to Bother You is a tighter film, overall, where sometimes throwing everything at the wall doesn’t always work in I Love Boosters, and on the macro is a little disjointed in the overall story, but these are minor nitpicks. As always, go big because why not? Riley has a vision, and I’m here for it.
Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters is a beautifully tactile film, filled with an amazing texture of absurdity and anti-capitalist throughlines. An over-the-top production design builds on a brilliant script (that maybe needed a little tightening) performed by perfect performers. Get out to the theatre to see as big and loud as possible, to soak in that visual sense and support a newer voice singing a great song.
I Love Boosters was the opening film of the Seattle International Film Festival on May 7th, 2026. It enters wide release on May 22nd. See more about SIFF, as it runs its theaters year-round, at siff.net.
PS It was recently announced that Riley is working on adapting Anne Washburn’s play Mr Burns, a Post-Electric Play. Based upon his other films, he’s a great pick, and I cannot wait to see what he does with it. It’s a great play, find it and read it (or watch it if you’re lucky enough) if you can.