# I Love Boosters (2026) Review: A Surreal Shoplifting Satire > I Love Boosters is Boots Riley's absurdist comedy about a crew of professional shoplifters, a wild, funny satire of fashion, shopping and wanting more. Canonical: https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/i-love-boosters-review/ Published: 2026-05-09 Last updated: 2026-10-02 Author: Kaiser Khan — Founder & Editor Language: English Review basis: direct-viewing Spoilers: none Editorial approval: 2026-10-02 Viewing confirmed: 2026-10-02 ## Verdict Yes, for viewers who like their comedy strange and political. It is funny, inventive and angry, though its ideas sometimes crowd out the story. ## Is I Love Boosters worth watching? **Yes. I Love Boosters is a bold, very funny satire that confirms Boots Riley as one of American cinema's most distinctive comic voices, even if it is messier than it is disciplined.** Riley takes the world of boosters, professional shoplifters who steal and resell, and spins it into an absurdist fable about fashion, desire and who really profits from the things we wear. Keke Palmer leads a lively ensemble with total conviction. The reservation is sprawl: the film has more ideas than its 110 minutes can comfortably hold, and its surreal swerves will lose viewers who want a conventional caper. ## What is I Love Boosters about? [I Love Boosters](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/i-love-boosters/) follows a crew of boosters who make their living lifting designer clothes from department stores and selling them on. Keke Palmer heads the cast, with Naomi Ackie and LaKeith Stanfield alongside her and Demi Moore in a key supporting role. What begins as a hustle comedy about theft and reselling widens into a satire of the fashion business and the culture of wanting that feeds it. Boots Riley writes and directs this American production in English, his second feature after Sorry to Bother You. It runs 110 minutes, and anyone who enjoyed the strange turns of that debut, or of his series I'm a Virgo, will recognise the sensibility straight away: realistic situations that suddenly tip into the impossible. ## Riley's absurdism has a target The pleasure of a Boots Riley film is watching a simple premise mutate. Here the logic of shopping, of labels, price tags, window displays and the ache of wanting what you cannot afford, is pushed into the surreal until its hidden rules become visible. The joke is never only that the boosters steal; it is what their thefts reveal about the business of selling desire. Riley's comedy is visual as much as verbal. Stores, showrooms and fashion spaces are staged with a heightened artificiality that makes consumer culture look both seductive and faintly ridiculous. The film keeps finding fresh sight gags in the texture of retail, and its best set pieces have the anarchic energy of a heist movie that has wandered into a dream. ## An ensemble with real chemistry Keke Palmer is the film's engine. She has the comic speed to land rapid-fire dialogue and the presence to make her character's anger and ambition feel real rather than merely satirical, and she grounds the wilder passages in something recognisably human. Naomi Ackie brings a sharper, drier edge, and the ensemble's rapport gives the film a warmth that keeps its politics from turning into a lecture. LaKeith Stanfield, reuniting with Riley after Sorry to Bother You, is reliably offbeat, and Demi Moore gives her scenes a glossy, knowing charge that suits the film's view of the fashion world. Nobody is playing it safe, which is exactly the point. ## Too many ideas for one film Riley's generosity is also his weakness. The script touches on labour, luxury, creativity, ownership and resale culture, and not every thread gets the attention it deserves. Some supporting characters are sketched rather than developed, and as the absurdity escalates, some of the character comedy gives way to argument. The tonal lurches are deliberate, but they will not suit everyone, and a few scenes feel like they belong to a different, even stranger film. ## Who should watch I Love Boosters? It is ideal for viewers who like political comedy with a surreal streak, fans of Sorry to Bother You, and anyone who has ever felt uneasy about how much a logo costs. People expecting a straightforward heist romp should know that the film is more interested in satire than in suspense. It is pitched at adults in its language and humour, and there is an after-credits scene worth staying for. Two useful companions from our catalogue: - [One Battle After Another](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/one-battle-after-another-2025/), another recent American film that mixes comedy, chaos and radical politics. - [The Truman Show](https://celluloidscore.com/reviews/the-truman-show-1998-review/), a gentler, more classical satire of a world built to sell things to the people living in it. ## The verdict I Love Boosters is overstuffed and sometimes unruly, but it is also alive, funny and genuinely original, powered by a terrific Keke Palmer and a director with something to say. For viewers willing to follow Boots Riley down his rabbit holes, it is one of the most enjoyable satires of the year. ## Related title - [I Love Boosters (2026)](https://celluloidscore.com/movies/i-love-boosters/) ## Editorial - [Editorial standards](https://celluloidscore.com/about/editorial-policy/) - [Report a correction](https://celluloidscore.com/about/corrections/)