Boots Riley’s ‘I Love Boosters’ – Review Thread

A crew of professional shoplifters known as The Velvet Gang take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven.

Director: Boots Riley ('Sorry To Bother You')

Cast: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, Eiza González, Demi Moore, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, Taylor Paige, Poppy Liu

Rotten Tomatoes: 100%

Metacritic: 75 / 100

Some Reviews:

The Playlist – Monica Castillo – 'A-'

“I Love Boosters” might feel a bit choppy or too busy with its ambitious goal to address so much of what’s wrong in the fashion world, but no one can ever accuse Riley of being boring. His second feature is an imaginative anti-capitalist satire that will likely be more visually engaging than many other movies heading to theaters this year. It’s unafraid to make silly references like a mini-film made by “Jean-Luc Dogard” and feature a climactic Wes Anderson-style car chase, but also raise awareness about the working conditions of factory workers abroad. Buffeted by both an incredible cast and crew, “I Love Boosters” is an unexpected celebration of friendship, community, and solidarity

Collider – Ross Bonaime – 8 / 10

In the world we live in, which continues to feel overwhelming and unusual in new ways every day, I Love Boosters fits right into our current reality. Riley's commentary on the rights of workers and the dream of fighting those in power feels needed and essential in this day and age. I Love Boosters is full of major swings and plenty of individual concepts that could take up an entire film, yet Riley balances everything this movie is trying to do quite well. I Love Boosters is an adventure unlike anything you've ever seen before, proof that Boots Riley is one of our most adventurous filmmakers, and a film that feels essential in 2026.

FandomWire – Sean Boelman – 9 / 10

Even if it doesn’t quite reach the “instant classic” status that Sorry to Bother You earned, I Love Boosters is still one of the boldest, most singular works that any filmmaker has made… maybe in the history of cinema? Love it or hate it, I Love Boosters is undeniably a massive swing, and that’s the type of thing that I personally want to see more of.

RogerEbert – Brian Tallerico – 3 / 4

As with all great satirists, Riley uses the light of the impossible to illuminate the truth of everyday life. Whether it’s a Bay Area building that tilts at such an angle that people struggle to stay upright in it or a magical device that can do increasingly impossible things out of a sci-fi movie, Riley understands that satire can embed messaging in the whimsy. You’ll walk out of this one feeling boosted.

NextBestPicture – Dan Bayer – 8 / 10

An unapologetically political filmmaker, Riley goes for the jugular with his blunt force satire. Thankfully, he’s also scalpel sharp where he has to be. Riley overexplains some things to ensure the audience follows the hairpin turns of his overly creative mind, but always does so in an entertaining way. His confidence as a director results in some big swings that may not connect with some audience members, but the overall effect of “I Love Boosters” is undeniably powerful. Seeing a vision this unbridled onscreen is a breath of fresh air in a cinematic landscape overloaded with IP rehashes. Boots Riley is a genuine original, and in “I Love Boosters,” he makes a statement as wildly entertaining as possible.

IndieWire – Ryan Lattanzio – 'B'

Is Boots Riley‘s “I Love Boosters” the first socialist stoner movie of the this political era? It would appear so, and like his previous film “Sorry to Bother You” and Amazon series “I'm a Virgo,” it’s set in a world where gravity doesn’t apply, and a world constantly spinning off its axis that reveals, among many things: high-concept sci-fi, gross-out sexual body horror, and Demi Moore as a tyrannical, late-capitalist fashionista that three working-class, rookie Bay Area criminals move to take down…Cinematographer Natasha Braier, too, makes the case for the California Bay Area as a place deserving of more on-location shoots, and specifically Riley’s sci-fi twists on them. He loses grip on the material overall, but as far as genre movies that actually turn out to be political missives go, there are worse entertainments. And with Keke Palmer at the front, you’re always in sure hands. I don’t know if we love boosters, but we certainly like them.

DEADLINE – Glenn Garner

Eight years after his debut film Sorry to Bother You, Riley knocks it out of the park with another absurdist, stylized take on modern society, as Palmer’s performance grounds his writing to its real-world implications, perfectly complimented by Ackie and Paige as a group of thieves that puts the “Bling Ring” to shame. Riley successfully captures the hopelessness of our current capitalist dystopia, in which the rich get richer while destroying the world, and the rest of us just want a chance to do something meaningful.