Written and directed by Boots Riley

Starring Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, Demi Moore, LaKeith Stanfield, Will Poulter, and Don Cheadle.

This may not vibe with me as strongly as Sorry to Bother You had, but hot damn, this is so self-assured about presenting its anti-capitalist commentary in such a colorfully bonkers fashion that I simply must have a hoot with it. Purely the vibrant hues that this explodes all over the place are a feast for my eyes, with the set design and the costume design earning praise for their vividness. The zany score from Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner knows how to amp up the outrageousness of this adventure all on its own, and it doesn’t annoy me that it’s often relying on dishing out the same theme over and over. And oh my lord, the stop-motion animation! I’d vaguely known about its existence beforehand, but seeing how that actually gets executed as yet another bright dosage of creativity is quite enjoyable. I do think, though, that as much as I like leaping onto the ridiculous ride here, there are segments that can leave me feeling like they’re spilling over the edges and like they’re not cohering with the rest of the package as tautly as they could be. It’s a different response that I’m dealing with compared to Sorry to Bother You, and granted, it’s been a few years since I last saw that, but I remember it benefitting from a clearer lens of focus amongst all of its unabashed bizarreness. That being said, even if Boots Riley is tossing a few too many ingredients into the pot for me and creating something that can become disjointed sometimes, I’ll enthusiastically accept his confident wildness any day of the week. In general, bonkers shit that’s kind of messy is endearing to me. And on paper, the exposition that this pours out in regard to a certain MacGuffin is the type of thing that could have collapsed so damn fast. But because the movie is so committed to its own voice and because Eiza González (who’s giving one of my favorite performances that I’ve seen from her so far) is locked and loaded when it comes to delivering all of that information, it’s able to stick the landing rather than come out looking cumbersome.

This is all in service of a story that promotes solidarity in order to fight back against the capitalistic overlords of our world and that points out how these tyrants get to casually carry out their large-scale exploitation while operating within an unjust system that chooses to distract its population by aiming a sinful spotlight at a petty crime like shoplifting. Then there’s a specific creature who pops in and provides such a hilariously literal way of conveying a part of the narrative, which amuses me. Maybe it bothers some other viewers because of how obvious it is, but again, I appreciate the humor here. Don’t forget the dialectical materialism breakdown, either, because that’s also handled very bluntly, and I like how this movie is taking such an absurdist road to portray it in a tangible form. My aforementioned critique of the messiness does show back up here admittedly, considering that I think this can spread its attention over a few too many ideas and plotlines, even though it could have been useful to narrow its concentration towards a smaller number of those elements. But again, I can generally get onboard for the maximalist and surrealist spirit.

It helps that the cast is all ready for this project, including Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, González, and Poppy Liu. They’re not fazed by the sheer peculiarity of this journey. No, no, they’re entirely prepared to dive right in. A shout-out goes to Robin Thede, because she may spend only a tiny amount of time onscreen, but she gets to properly shine in one of the movie’s most uproarious gags. Just the facial expression that she affects is memorable. And once this is all wrapped up, I’m left giving I Love Boosters a good old thumbs-up. I may find it to be a couple steps below Sorry to Bother You (which I need to revisit sometime), but that doesn’t detract from it being a satisfying punch of Riley’s style and politics. I’m rooting for him to get the chance to return to the director’s chair as soon as possible. There had been an eight-year gap between this and Sorry to Bother You, so I’d love it if the next gap could be shorter.

My final rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars