WNY Movies: Boots Riley’s newest film turns high fashion into a revolution

By Matthew Turner

(Above, L-R: Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Keke Palmer)

Once again, Boots Riley gifts moviegoers with a cacophonous, stylish and important satire sure to alienate all.

I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s sophomore theatrical work, does not show any signs of Riley reining it in. As divisive as Riley’s style is, I welcome his films becoming bigger and louder. In such a frustrating political climate, what else can satire be but deafening? There is no subtlety anymore with the oaf in office, and Riley knows this. Even if the movie needs to explain concepts like dialectical materialism to the viewer for a few minutes, the world is better for it for containing countercultural masterpieces such as this.

Following Sorry to Bother You’s skewering of the marketing world, I Love Boosters centers its sights on the fashion world. Exploitation, racism, and capitalism are all running through the veins of the world of Wintour. Ready to take what is theirs are the Velvet Gang boosters: Corvette, Sade and Mariah. Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie and Taylour Paige, respectively, play these chic crew members with a familiarity that immediately pulls in viewers as empathetic to their cause. 

The cause of the boosters? To take high fashion (an industry that takes from the lower class) and sell it at a discounted rate to give back. An honorable goal, and the sole life mission of Corvette, whom Palmer brings a magnetic personality to, a revolutionary who has failed in her dream of designing clothes. When Corvette’s old designs are stolen, however, the crew needs to not just give back to the poor. They need to take everything from the rich. At the top of this twisted tower of threads is Christie Smith, played effectively by Demi Moore in a performance that makes Miranda Priestly look like Mother Theresa. 

It is when Corvette and crew turn their sights on Smith herself that this chaotic comedy truly shines. Visual gags evolve into animated works of art, a goofy score transforms the theater into the inside of a circus and plot developments become so wacky that viewers need to close their mouths. While Sorry to Bother You seemed ambitious, I Love Boosters takes Riley’s vision into a whole other dimension, following his box-office guarantor that hasn’t been seen since Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid. It is an inspiringly bonkers film that makes viewers think, laugh, and analyze heady concepts at a popcorn-picture pace — only recommended for those who love overstimulating works that are not afraid to swing for the fences or succumb to subtlety.