By: K. A. Grant
If you like a multi-cultural cast of weird, then you’re going to love this movie.
Love?
According to IMDb.com, I Love Boosters is about a group of shoplifters who re-sell their bounty at a lower price to earn a living. These shoplifters, dubbed The Velvet Gang, come to realize that the fashion they’re stealing is doing more harm than good. (Pot, meet kettle.) This leads Corvette (played by Keke Palmer), Mariah (Taylour Paige), Sade (Naomi Ackie), and Jianhu (Poppy Liu) on a philanthropic crime spree against fashion maven and billionaire Christie Smith (Demi Moore).
Christie makes monochromatic designer clothes that update each month to a new vibrant shade, which provides the audience with monochromatic overload. Metro Designers, her store, has locations all over the US and uses underpaid, overworked factory workers in China to produce her creations. Sound familiar? This is a nod to the Shein-type companies who make a lot of money from Americans who have been hit by the Amazon effect. They want it fast and they want it cheap. But cheap can be expensive. The oddly monochromatic fashion is not what’s weird about the movie, though.
Directing Talent
Boots Riley is not necessarily a household name, like Steven Spielberg or Christopher Nolan. You may have seen his work, though. His credits include Sorry to Bother You and I’m A Virgo. Both had casts of people of color. One starred LaKeith Stanfield, whose an independent film and TV darling and great acting talent. In Boosters, Stanfield plays TJ Maxx model and potential Corvette love interest Pinky Ring Guy. This character is not human and let’s just say he adds a gore factor to the film that feels unnecessary.
What’s weird about Boosters has everything to do with Riley. Acting as writer and director, Riley holds the movie together with character actors, social commentary on capitalism painted with broad strokes, a few nods to Spike Lee, and a suspension of belief. Clearly, it’s a satire. It’s just too overt. I felt like I needed to be high or drunk to actually enjoy this movie. Then again, if you find yourself sitting in the movie theater to watch this film based on the trailers, then you’re already prepared for the over saturation of color and low-brow plot.
The Plot
The plot of this movie is all over the place; practically incoherent. There’s disgusting commentary on community leaders who basically sell their souls for cash and notoriety. Clearly this is a nod to social media influencers who take on political views based on the highest bidder. And, we won’t discuss the TV news pundits (I use that term loosely) who have divorced themselves from facts in order to gain popularity with the powerful elite who only care about dollar signs.
If you twisted my arm to write something nice about this movie it would be that Palmer gives a stellar performance because she’s that great. So, does Stanfield, Ackie, Paige, and Moore. They understood the assignment when it came to leaning all the way into the campiness of the film. Supporting actors include Eiza Gonzalez as Metro Designers store clerk Violeta, an unrecognizable Don Cheadle as schemer Dr. Jack, Jason Ritter as Upstanding Community Member, talented Will Poulter as Metro Designs store manager Grayson, and Robin Thede making a cameo as Light-skinned Mariah. Yes, you read that right. There’s commentary on white perception of light- and dark-skinned people in the black community, as well as how easily our community falls for pyramid schemes.
The main commentary is about fast fashion and its harmful effects on the workers who manufacture them; both physically and financially. If the clothes are harming the workers, what are they doing to the people wearing them? And, if the workers are working around the clock to produce the fast in fast fashion, shouldn’t they get paid their worth and be allowed better working conditions? At its heart, because clearly Riley’s was in the right place, I Love Boosters is about people of different backgrounds coming together to effect positive change. It also sets the tone for dialogue on current events, especially our capitalist society.
This Isn’t It
I didn’t really care for this movie. But I did enjoy seeing actors taking material seriously, no matter how ridiculous. I always strive to support creators of color, but I this isn’t it. Save your money, since we’re in challenging financial times. Wait until this one streams.
Click here to read more movie reviews by K. A. Grant.
