I Love Boosters (2026) Review: A Colourful Look At Capitalism

I Love Boosters follows a gang of shoplifters who make it their mission to bring down an eccentric fashion designer, but don’t let the bright colours, surrealism and absurdist nature of the movie confuse you into thinking it doesn’t have a deeper meaning.

A booster, by definition, is someone who steals clothes to sell on at a discounted price. We’re introduced to Corvette (Keke Palmer) as she brings a man from the club… to her store. It’s a comedic one-two punch that sets the tone for how seriously she takes her work and the perception of boosters by the community and the media in one fell swoop.

I Love Boosters is the second feature film from writer and director Boots Riley, following Sorry to Bother You (2018), a science fiction dark comedy with surrealist tones, and the markers of his work are reflected in his latest movie. The movie adds elements of stop motion, prosthetic make-up, creature animatronics and FX, which combined under one film doesn’t sound like it should work, but knitted together with the consistent quirky beats of the score and with Riley at the helm, strangely makes sense.

Despite not always being sure if what we’re seeing is real or exists in the minds of the characters, what is very real are the activism undertones. Demi Moore is the stylishly bobbed face of fast fashion and capitalism, taking consumerism to frightening lengths, but the movie doesn’t stuff its messaging to form communities and band together to rage against the machine down your throats. No, no, there are enough bright colours and sex demons to distract you into swallowing the hidden morality.

The cast list of this one is stacked; led by the undeniable Keke Palmer, the versatile Naomi Ackie and an underutilised Taylour Paige and when the trio came together, it was clear the wig, make-up and costume designers really had fun putting together their looks. Even those with minor roles, including Chinese factory worker Poppy Liu, store manager Will Poulter and pyramid-schemist Don Cheadle, committed to the bit and helped bring Riley’s fever dream to life.

LaKeith Stanfield, who led Sorry to Bother You, was a strange outlier that didn’t always work but did provide some comic relief and perhaps a wider discussion point on decentring men. His appearance in the film was always poorly timed, distracting Corvette when she was in the middle of something more important. You could see her being pulled to him despite his admission that he wasn’t human, to lean in and lose herself instead of addressing personal frustrations and following her ambitions…. Or perhaps his soul-sucking tongue had other connotations.

I Love Boosters is exactly what you’d expect from Boots Riley and yet it still manages to be a refreshingly daring movie that hides its commentary beneath a riot of colour, sex demons and absurdity, proving that sometimes the strangest way to make a point is the most effective.

Rating: 3/5

Watched as part of London Film Festival 2026