‘I Love Boosters’ Review Thread

I will continue to update this post as reviews come in.

Rotten Tomatoes: Fresh

Critics Consensus: A raucous capitalist critique, I Love Boosters careens through the carefully-controlled chaos of writer-director Boots Riley's imagination to deliver a comedy that's as funny as it is thought-provoking.

Metacritic: 72 (14 Reviews)

Sample Reviews:

Eli Friedberg, Slant Magazine 2/4 – Arrhythmic, unfocused, and forgetting to breathe, this overstuffed film feels like a circus act, a well-dressed elephant on a unicycle juggling a dozen balls. It’s an impressive feat of dexterity, if not grace.

Siddhant Adlakha, Observer 1.5/4 – The anti-nuance of [Riley's] perspective is commendably audacious, at least in theory. In practice, it’s visually and emotionally incoherent, and seldom entertaining, squandering potent ideas by making them thuddingly obvious and unpleasant.

Joe Gross, Austin Chronicle – What’s most striking is Riley’s optimism; for a guy whose work can feel apocalyptic, he maintains an inspired belief in the power of community and the contradictory realities of life under extreme capitalism.

Kristy Puchko, Mashable – Riley delivers a sophomore effort that's outrageous, provocative, and really f*cking fun.

Monica Castillo, The Playlist A- – Riley, who wrote and directed “I Love Boosters,” has once again delivered a wildly original film that’s meant to provoke discussion and make the audience laugh.

David Fear, Rolling Stone – It’s a lot, but that’s Boots’ style. The Adult Swim energy is strong here and the satire is sharp in the way that shattered glass flying every which way from a shotgun blast is.

Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter – Watching it feels less like being transported into a different universe than putting on X-ray goggles to look at our own — and finding, buried under all the frustration and despair, a joyful and unruly sense of hope.

Robert Daniels, Screen International – Not content with making a modest comedy about stylish shoplifters, Boots Riley’s imaginatively outlandish fast-fashion satire I Love Boosters continues the director’s penchant for maximalist social statements.

Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com 3/4 – It’s a wickedly clever skewering of the moral rot at the center of the fashion industry delivered with enough vision to make your eyes hurt.

Chase Hutchinson, TheWrap – Riley, proving himself to be a romantic just as he is a believer in revolution, clearly not only loves these boosters with hearts of gold, but anyone that is trying to make it all work for themselves and those around them.

Owen Gleiberman, Variety – The movie, a tall tale of clothes encounters, doesn’t always work. Yet there’s something disarming about how Riley’s sense of play holds this street-smart meta-rebellion fantasy together. He loves boosters, and everything else he shows you.

Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire B – 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.

SYNOPSIS:

A crew of professional shoplifters take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service.

CAST:

• Keke Palmer as Corvette
• Naomi Ackie as Sade
• Taylour Paige as Mariah
• LaKeith Stanfield as Pinky Ring Guy
• Poppy Liu as Jianhu
• Eiza González as Violeta
• Will Poulter as Grayson
• Don Cheadle as Dr. Jack
• Demi Moore as Christie Smith

DIRECTED BY: Boots Riley

SCREENPLAY BY: Boots Riley

PRODUCED BY: Aaron Ryder, Andrew Swet, Allison Rose Carter, Jon Read

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Gus Deardoff, Jeff Deutchman, Megan Ellison, Ryan Friscia, Michael Jackman, Mike Jackman, Ken Kao, Matthew Medlin, Elizabeth Niles, Keke Palmer, Sharon Palmer, Josh Rosenbaum, Emily Thomas, Claire Timmons

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Natasha Braier

PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Christopher Glass

EDITED BY: Matthew Hannam, Terel Gibson

COSTUME DESIGNER: Shirley Kurata

MUSIC BY: Tune-Yards

CASTING BY: Rebecca Dealy

RUNTIME: 115 Minutes

RELEASE DATE: May 22, 2026