Departure Fest 2026: I Love Boosters Review

The following review is from the 2026 edition of Toronto’s Departure Fest.

It’s been eight years since Boots Riley shocked the system with his stylish, balls-to-the-wall, eat-the-rich satire, ‘Sorry to Bother You‘. At the time, the film felt completely incomparable to anything that had come before it. Its pastel colour palette, eye-popping visuals, and creative swings that polarized viewers made the film an exhilarating experience, both to watch and discuss afterwards.

‘Sorry to Bother You’ laid the groundwork for a style that the Daniels would later perfect with ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once‘, a film that took that hyperactive, colourful, internet-brained sensibilities and transformed it into something wholly original and emotionally resonant. In the years since his debut feature was released, Riley has generally kept a lower profile. He created the series ‘I’m a Virgo’, which didn’t make a huge splash but was generally well received. Now he’s back in full swing as his sophomore feature, I Love Boosters, is finally making its way into theatres.

I Love Boosters takes place in a heightened interpretation of San Francisco, where an organized group of shoplifters known as “boosters” target high-end fashion stores and resell stolen clothes at discounted prices. Keke Palmer stars as Corvette, a woman trying to make ends meet while squatting in the back room of a chicken restaurant. Corvette’s crew includes her best friend Sade (Ackie), who acts as the group’s supposed voice of reason despite being wrapped up in a pyramid scheme (which tells audiences exactly how reliable that guidance really is). Then there’s the supportive and kind Mariah (Paige).

The group specifically targets the designs of eccentric high-fashion designer Christie Smith (Demi Moore). Corvette despises Christie as a person, yet endlessly admires her work as a designer, creating an interesting dynamic that provides a commentary on how even when we disavow capitalism, we can still be lured in by it.

Much like ‘Sorry to Bother You’, I Love Boosters explodes onto the screen with eye-popping visuals, colourful compositions, and immaculate costume and production design. While the former is ultimately the bigger narrative swing, Riley clearly levels up here from a technical standpoint, further cementing his strong and singular visual identity. Every frame feels meticulously curated, overflowing with texture and colour.

Taking aim at the high-end fashion industry is an especially compelling angle in 2026. In the wake of ongoing conversations surrounding the Met Gala, where it’s more clear than ever that billionaires and corporations have stripped the event of its artistic meaning in favour of empty displays of wealth, Riley’s satire feels timely. The idea of luxury fashion existing as both artistic expression and exploitative status symbol is interesting ground for a filmmaker like Riley to explore.

Unfortunately, the film crumbles under its own weight. Like Riley’s debut, I Love Boosters is clearly overflowing with ideas and desperate to provoke conversation. The difference is that while ‘Sorry to Bother You’ could certainly be described as messy, it still felt narratively cohesive and clear in its takedown of capitalism. This film, by comparison, is far too scattershot to effectively land most of the ideas it wants to explore. It jumps rapidly from one concept to the next without ever digging deeply enough into any of them.

Riley also introduces increasingly bizarre science-fiction elements which distract from the film’s core themes. Rather than sharpening the commentary, these detours muddy it, and aren’t nearly as clever or funny as Riley thinks they are.

The characters suffer from that same lack of depth. Most of the boosters function more as archetypes than fully realized people. Palmer gives a strong performance and brings charisma and vulnerability to Corvette, but even her character feels underdeveloped. The film introduces far too obvious symbolism in dream sequences like the giant ball of clothing that Corvette is constantly running from, and her conflicted admiration for Christie is never fully interrogated either. The film ultimately builds toward a showdown between the boosters and Christie that should feel explosive, but instead comes across as flimsy and underwhelming.

Even with its shortcomings, I Love Boosters remains difficult to dismiss outright because Boots Riley is still such a distinct filmmaker. Few directors working today create movies that feel this visually alive or this willing to take massive creative risks. But while ‘Sorry to Bother You’ balanced its chaos with purpose, this effort feels like a filmmaker so consumed by ideas that he loses sight of the story holding them together.

still courtesy of Elevation Pictures

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Tristan French