When it comes to “B” things I love, I can’t say boosters is on the list. Bourbon, basketball, burritos. I love those, but not boosters.
This movie didn’t really change that fact, either.
The film is writer/director Boots Riley’s sophomore effort after helming 2018’s “Sorry to Bother You.” His latest film is a surreal crime comedy starring Keke Palmer as Corvette. While she has a passion for designing clothes, challenges in life have forced her into shoplifting and reselling fashionable attire.
She conducts her boosting efforts in company with friends Sade (Naomi Ackie) and Mariah (Taylour Paige). In addition to earning the nickname the Velvet Gang, their activities also catch the attention of a powerful designer who is furious about her clothes being stolen.
In 1992 the animated film “FernGully” came out, full of messages on the importance of environmental preservation and the issue of deforestation. As someone concerned about environmental policy, especially these days with places like the Minnesota Boundary Waters having protections removed, it’s something I can get behind. The movie, though, wasn’t particularly good.
The film came to mind while watching “I Love Boosters,” because it too has some meaningful commentary, and what it has to say is announced loudly and proudly. This is a movie that hits at things like the problematic nature of unfettered capitalism, ugly materialism, workers’ rights and class solidarity.
It’s not only a commendable effort by Riley to include such themes, but rings true with yours truly and many audiences as well. However, with all of that said, the film itself is not a fully captivating experience. That’s despite a lot being thrown toward a viewer. This is an energetic, and even cartoon-like take on a crime-centered dramatic comedy.
It’s a surreal film, full of extreme visuals and a heavy use of bright colors that really pop off the screen. To Riley and the crew’s credit, it does look quite good at times, with a tremendous amount of flair and style. Having a unique cinematic identity is absolutely a good thing.
However, there are moments where some of the film’s fantastical elements are either exaggerated too far, making things tonally off, or included simply to push boundaries, rather than benefit the overall narrative. A particularly strong example of this is with the character portrayed by LaKeith Stanfield, whose inclusion seemed more like an excuse to have a single, wild scene that would get people talking, rather than helping build to a better film.
It’s fine to get weird with your movie. Go for it. But it still has to mean something, and his inclusion didn’t really amount to much. His character could have been entirely cut from the movie, and that would have been a good thing, because this film is also far too long. It’s a film that feels like it’s operating on a time budget of around 90 minutes, but closes in on two hours.
That’s not to say a film can’t earn that runtime, but this movie doesn’t. A big reason why is the massive amount of explaining that takes place, often bloating the runtime without giving the audience much to invest in. There’s a device introduced in the film’s second act and that’s overly explained, there’s group of henchmen who show up and explain their whole reason for being bad, and even the film’s finale is heavily explained in a TV news report.
Not only is there a lot of explanatory dialogue, it feels like it’s taking away from real moments of the characters just doing their thing. Show, don’t tell, and all that. This, and a shift in the second act that moves this beyond a fun heist romp, means the characters don’t get as much depth or humanity. They have plenty of personality, but the film doesn’t dig deeper.
This is rather noticeable in the third act when a pair of the characters are having what’s supposed to be an emotional climax for the flick, and it just falls flat because this pair haven’t made me feel much for the last hour and a half. It’s too bad because there’s a good roster of women in the cast, and it seems like they were having fun with some of the elements while still making strong jabs with the message-heavy dialogue they had.
That’s all well and good, but the character work doesn’t do them many favors. Neither does the exposition-filled story which overall gets too convoluted for its own good. Again, there’s boldness in the film’s style and its commitment to commentary is admirable. Plus, the cast is undoubtedly good and make some scenes work. However, the issues in “I Love Boosters” only mount the more it goes on. 2.5 out of 5.
