I Love Boosters

Boots Riley's second feature, some eight years after Sorry to Bother You, and again a comedy aimed at capitalism with no interest at all in realism. Corvette lives in a shuttered chicken restaurant and runs a crew of shoplifters. Their target is a fashion label called Metro and its eccentric designer Christie Smith. They sell what they take on the street at a discount; they are not breaking the economy, they are running a parallel one. The crew includes Sade, who has been drawn into a pyramid scheme called Friends Being Friendly, and Mariah, who holds the group together. Keke Palmer plays Corvette, Naomi Ackie plays Sade and Taylour Paige plays Mariah, with LaKeith Stanfield, Demi Moore and Don Cheadle in support. It opened SXSW in March 2026 and was released on 22 May 2026. Riley's method is unchanged: no realism, plenty of surrealism and undisguised political anger. The abundance of ideas scatters the film at times; what holds it is Palmer's performance.