Boots Riley’s Jewel Toned Revolutionary Cinema Rollercoaster
By Dolores Quintana
Writer and director Boots Riley’s I Love Boosters is a dizzying, comedic paean to the strength of the individual and the power of collective action. An eminently entertaining caper film that never stops surprising you and is a feast for your eyeballs and your cerebrum. You can buy tickets here, which I recommend that you do as quickly as possible.
The film stars Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, and Demi Moore. The actors are perfectly matched with their roles, much to the credit of the casting director, Rebecca Dealy, and Riley, and the actors for saying yes to the roles.
Synopsis: In a surreal version of the San Francisco Bay Area, a group of shoplifters, known as “boosters”, take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven after she steals their designs.
You can watch the trailer here:
While the film is about serious subjects, Riley constructs I Love Boosters with his signature surreal world-building skills and his ribald and endearingly absurdist sense of humor. While many writers and directors follow the rules, Riley races after his creative impulses wherever they lead. When most people would ask why, Riley says, “Why not?”
Instead of a didactic and grim portrayal of poverty and the abuses of corporations, the film is filled with brightly colored fashions that the Boosters steal from the rich. In a way, it is a modern version of the Robin Hood legend, but with three female Robin Hoods and two women who are union organizers trying to get justice and convince others to organize.
Instead of allowing themselves to be oppressed, the main characters, who are all women, are ready to fight for what they deserve, not with violence, but with intelligence, audacity, and a surfeit of style. They consider boosting as FFF or “fashion-forward filanthropy,”
They steal from designer Christie Smith and sell the clothes that they and their customers could never afford, which gives them pride and the potential for upward mobility, which is being denied to them by greedy fashion houses. They not only balance the scales, but they also make the world brighter and more beautiful. As Corvette says, “Give it to me, it’s mine anyway.”
Demi Moore as Christie Smith is the avatar of a creator who denies the same power to others. She believes herself to be anointed as an artist, but would never give others the chance she was given. Arrogant, selfish, and superficial, her art is tainted by her insecurities and her insistence that the art only belongs to her. The character makes the point that artists who pull the ladder up behind them are not deserving of reverence and that art belongs to everyone. Art can be profitable, but it is not just about money.
The film is packed with visual jokes that simply pop into your view and bend your mind while making you laugh. I Love Boosters rockets from genre to genre whenever it feels like it. It is untamed art that explores the many facets of cinema through Boots Riley’s puckish curiosity.
From crime capers to science fiction to drama to Riley’s version of a meet-cute romance that is more of a vortex that threatens to swallow the characters whole, it is the classic pursuit of justice, love, and friendship between those who become comrades in haute couture. It is also a philosophical text for those who care to look deeper into it.
One of the recurring themes is Johann Gottlieb Fichte‘s theory of synthesis or thesis–antithesis–synthesis as explained by three different wig heads as the progression of ideas with critical thought processes, which lead to the resolution of the conflict of ideas by reconciling the common truths within both, leading to a new idea. It could also be an expression of why collective action works. It’s not just numbers; it is the individual’s thoughts, beliefs, and strengths that bring more power to the collective.
I Love Boosters is a cerebral orgy of creativity with revolutionary thought embedded in a vivid and opulently colored work of art. Just when you think you know where it’s going, Riley steers it into a hard left turn. One of 2026’s best films exists on its own plane of reality that expands your mind and imagination rather than adhering to cinema tropes. Also, you are not ready for the truth about LaKeith Stanfield’s character. You really aren’t.
