I Love Boosters: Boots Riley Attempts to Mask a Weak Narrative with Outlandish Elements (4K/Blu-ray)

The Film:

Eight years ago, Boots Riley burst onto the filmmaking scene with "Sorry to Bother You," a project that had a mildly-interesting story about an African-American telemarketer who uses a "white voice" to be more successful at his job, but which ended up going a little too far off the rails into the realm of fantasy. However, despite its relatively low intake at the box office, it was quite successful based on the film's rather small budget.

Instead of making another film right away, Riley opted to try his hand at TV in 2023 with the seven-episode series "I'm a Virgo. It was well-received, but because of budgetary issues & cuts, he ultimately decided not to pursue a second season. Now he returns with his second feature, "I Love Boosters," for which he has a much bigger budget than before, and a cast that is just as impressive, if not more so, than that of his first film. But will a bigger budget & big names help Riley keep his focus on reality, or will it merely cause him to drift even further away from it & the story he's trying to tell?

The film focuses on a group known as the "Velvet Gang," which includes Corvette (Keke Palmer), Sade (Naomi Ackie), and Mariah (Taylour Paige), a trio of "boosters" who steal clothes from stores run by fashion designer Christie Smith (Demi Moore), and then sell them at a discount. Naturally, Christie doesn't take this well, repeatedly calling them names & denouncing them on social media. Corvette herself is actually an aspiring fashion designer who is a fan of Christie's work, but when the Velvet Gang gets jobs at one of her stores with plans to rob it, and Corvette sees a design that she was going to submit to a contest, it riles her quite a bit. However, before they're able to enact their plan, all of the clothes are stolen by someone who seems to possess a strangely magical item. Could this possibly be someone who could help them in their crusade?

As mentioned, Riley's debut feature had the start of an intriguing story, but in the end, he let it get a little too far away from him as he tried to bring it home with a deluge of fantasy/eccentric elements. As we come to his second feature, the hope is that he's learned from his past mistakes so that he can not only deliver a compelling narrative, but also keep his more outlandish predilections under control so as not to drown it out.

That said, right at the start of the film, a problem arises in that he has chosen a somewhat weak foundation for his story in the form of a group of women stealing clothes to go after a major fashion designer. It's not the most compelling jumping-off point that he could have chosen, but as it proceeds, we simply have to trust that he has something a little more thoughtful & captivating up his sleeve for when it truly starts to develop to make this rather odd set-up worthwhile.

However, before we even get that far, we also notice right from the start that instead of becoming less dependent on the aforementioned outlandish elements, he's chosen to lean even more heavily into them by throwing in strange bits & pieces here and there, including unusual costumes, bizarre production design, a demon that steals souls through a very specific part of the female anatomy, and that's all before we even get to the multi-functional technological device the ladies acquire later on that helps them on their mission.

Normally such outrageous additions to a film wouldn't necessarily be a problem, but then you remember that Riley is working with a rather weak starting point to begin with, making it seem more than obvious as to why he's leaning into those strange & unusual elements that continue to pop up throughout. That said, much like his previous feature, the unpredictable nature does provide a fair amount of entertainment. It seems safe to say that no one will be able to guess exactly what weird thing will happen next, which was no doubt Riley's intention, along with hoping it would be enough to distract the audience from the film's flimsy foundation.

When all is said and done, "I Love Boosters" ends up at about the same level as his previous feature. It has a fine cast, and indeed, you may even find yourself curious to see what crazy thing Riley pulls from his hat from scene to scene, but it simply isn't enough to cover up the inherent weakness of the story, which should've been rather obvious to its writer/director from the very start. If he does get the chance to make a third film (a far-from-certain possibility given the major under-performance of his latest at the box office), we will once again have to hope that he can reign in his wild side just a bit and first crack a story that will truly grab the audience's attention, one that might even be bolstered by some of those eccentric elements, for until the proper amount of attention is given to the most important aspects of the project, there's little chance that it will stand well on its own in the end.

Video/Audio:

"I Love Boosters" comes to 4K in a 2.39:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of mostly decent quality. The picture seems to feature a slight haze throughout the 113-minute duration, making it look just a little less sharp than it should be, but it still remains quite watchable despite the somewhat odd appearance. On the other hand, the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track is excellent, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in outstanding quality. Overall, while the picture could've used a bit more sharpening, NEON has done a fine job in both areas for the film's physical debut.

Special Features:

Feature Commentary with Boots Riley

The Making of I Love Boosters (32 Minutes)

Interview with Boots Riley and LaKeith Stanfield (9 Minutes)

Interview with Keke Palmer and Demi Moore (9 Minutes)

Interview with The Velvet Gang (8 Minutes)

Blooper Reel (9 Minutes)

Conclusion:

Boots Riley's "I Love Boosters" boasts a fine cast and a number of outlandish & eccentric elements that will have you guessing what crazy thing will happen from scene to scene, but in the end, it's just not enough to overcome the inherent weakness in the narrative's rather flimsy foundation, ultimately making for a strangely forgettable outing that struggles to become truly compelling throughout.

Score: 3/5

Available on 4K starting tomorrow

Follow me on Twitter @BeckFilmCritic.