As a longtime fan of Boots Riley since the height of his politically-charged rap group The Coup, I look forward to everything he does as a filmmaker. His debut Sorry to Bother You, established Boots as someone with a distinctive voice and visual style, which he would use to brutally satirize various power structures. His long-awaited follow-up, I Love Boosters, is no less nutty as it rips into big business and high-end fashion, ironically with some of the same messaging seen in The Devil Wears Prada 2 right now. The difference is that only one of these films features a transdimensional warp gun and undercover baddies in human flesh suits.
If that sounds…well, kinda weird and unwieldy for a film about shoplifters, that’s just the way Boots does things. I’ll be honest, I found Sorry to Bother You to be a wacky, gonzo thrill up until the moment it jumped the shark…or should I say, jumped the horse. I Love Boosters is very much the same. Bright, almost blinding color palettes, and a DIY production design that resembles Michel Gondry on acid. But also a moment in the film when Boots goes so far with the craziness that he loses the thread, and you forget this was supposed to be about how big business keeps a foot on both its customers and its employees.
That said, the film is a lot of fun, as well, and unlike anything you’re likely to see this year. That’s Boots’ gift, he makes movies that nobody else can make but him. Keke Palmer stars as Corvette, an aspiring fashion designer with little to show for all of her efforts. She’s been reduced to living in an abandoned fried chicken joint, and working with her pals, Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige) to steal from designer clothing stories to resell the goods at a hefty discount. While they give some of the money back to the less fortunate, Corvette is mainly focused on striking back at Christie Smith, a craven fashion maven played by a blonde-haired Demi Moore, looking and sounding every bit like Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly. Corvette seeks to ruin Christie, who she accuses of stealing her designs for herself.
Boots’ films are always a treat for the eyes, and I love how I Love Boosters uses everything from claymation to miniature replicas to create an intricate fantasy world. Everything is slightly off-kilter, literally so in the case of Christie’s office which tilts at a ridiculous angle so that only she can walk on it properly. At the same time, there’s so much going on that you constantly need to recalibrate what you’re seeing. Corvette’s boosting schemes eventually lead to the introduction of teleportation/transubstantiation weapon, skinless villains, and more, that just feels like a bridge too far. That might sound strange for a film that also introduces Lakeith Stanfield as Corvette’s potential love interest, a TJ Maxxx fashion model who may or may not be a soul sucking demon. The oddities surrounding the surreal world Boots has created aren’t the problem, it’s when they derail the story and the point he’s trying to make, and that goes on for way too long.
The entire ensemble is clearly having a blast, and how could you not on a Boots Riley movie? It’s why he’s able to attract so many stars for small, showy supporting roles. Palmer’s Corvette is a slightly more complex figure than she appears. While she’s robbing Christie blind, she’s also a fan and admirer of her work ethic. She even shares the same affinity for glaring primary colors, such as her love for turquois, which Christie corrects her is actually aquamarine in a hilarious exchange. There are loads of cameos from stars you might not even recognize, such as a pencil-eyebrowed Eiza Gonzalez as Violeta, a revolutionary working at one of Christie’s stores. Will Poulter is a riot as Grayson, Violeta’s snobby boss. And then there’s Don Cheadle, buried under mounds of prosthetics so as to be unrecognizable as Dr. Jack, who runs a pyramid scheme that Sade swears by. There’s also a standout supporting role for Poppy Liu as Jianhu, who becomes an unoffical fourth member of Corvette’s team as she uses the portal gun to help Chinese workers in one of Christie’s sweatshops.
My guess is that, similar to the reaction to Sorry to Bother You, fans won’t care that I Love Boosters is too busy and loses its way before eventually getting back on track. So much of it is so bold and unique, the kind of movie that could only spring from the warped mind of Boots Riley. The heightened fantasy he creates is his way of making the harsh critiques about our reality a lot easier to swallow. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait another seven years for Boots’ next film, but when it’s time you know he’s going to have something important to say.
NEON releases I Love Boosters on May 22nd.
