Corvette waddles out of a designer store in a pink jumpsuit so stuffed with stolen clothes that she looks inflatable, and nobody stops her. It is the first of many glorious sight gags in I Love Boosters, Boots Riley’s explosion of colour, comedy and anger, and it tells you straight away that this is not going to be an ordinary heist movie.
Five months after its American release, Riley’s follow-up to Sorry to Bother You finally reaches UK cinemas on 30 October. It is messy, outrageous and frequently brilliant.
Boots Riley dresses a furious satire in the loudest clothes in town, and Keke Palmer wears them beautifully.
Movie at a Glance
- UK release: In cinemas from Friday 30 October 2026
- US release: In cinemas since 22 May 2026
- UK distributor: Universal Pictures (Focus Features)
- Writer and director: Boots Riley
- Starring: Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Demi Moore, LaKeith Stanfield, Poppy Liu, Eiza González, Will Poulter and Don Cheadle
- Runtime: 113 minutes
- Certificate: 18 (UK)
- Genre: Surreal crime comedy and satire
Viewer Match
- Best for: Fans of Sorry to Bother You, bold political comedy and anyone who loves a film that takes wild swings.
- Maybe skip if: You want a tidy heist caper, or you are not in the mood for very adult humour and big tonal swerves.
- Mood and pace: Fast, loud and gleefully absurd, with a sharp edge of anger underneath.
- Cinema or streaming? Cinema, with a crowd. The jokes, costumes and music all play bigger in a full room.
- Spoiler level: Spoiler-free: we stay with the set-up and avoid the film’s strangest turns.
The Velvet Gang
Keke Palmer plays Corvette, an aspiring designer who lives in a disused fried chicken shop and leads a crew of professional shoplifters with her friends Mariah (Taylour Paige) and Sade (Naomi Ackie). Their target is Christie Smith, the silver-haired fashion mogul played by Demi Moore, who steals one of Corvette’s designs. The plan is to boost her entire inventory. What they actually start is a revolt among underpaid retail staff and factory workers around the world.
Riley built the story from a song by his band, The Coup, and the film has the energy of a protest anthem. It is about labour, theft and who really owns the things we make, but it never forgets to be funny.
Palmer Holds It Together
Palmer is the reason the film works. Corvette is clever, charming and conflicted: she is drawn to the industry she wants to tear down, and Palmer lets you feel both the longing and the contempt. Moore is a deliciously chilly villain, and LaKeith Stanfield and Don Cheadle, the latter almost unrecognisable as a smooth-talking furniture salesman with a pyramid scheme, make the most of their scenes.
The trouble is that the ensemble is so crowded that some excellent actors are left with little to play. Ackie in particular is given a friendship subplot that the film has no room to develop, and Paige deserves more.
A Riot of Colour and Sound
Visually, this is a feast. Cinematographer Natasha Breier gives every scene a candy-bright punch, and the costumes are a constant source of delight. Tune-Yards’ score is catchy enough to follow you out of the cinema. Riley packs the frame with gags, from crooked buildings to impossible gadgets, and the early heist scenes are a joy.
Then the film goes further, and further again. As with his debut, Riley turns the surreal dial well past the point of comfort in the second half, with detours into stop-motion and science fiction. Some of it is inspired; some of it loses the thread, and a few late jokes fall flat. You never quite know where the film is heading, which is thrilling and occasionally exhausting.
Why It Is Worth the Wait
For all its excess, it is invigorating to see a filmmaker given the freedom to go this big with something to say. If you missed it, our Cinema Pack for 22 May covered its American opening. For something to watch at home tonight, try What to Watch Tonight.
Spoiler-Free Verdict
I Love Boosters is a dazzling, furious and often hilarious satire with a star turn from Keke Palmer. It throws in so many ideas that not all of them land, but you will not see anything else like it this year.
- Performances: 8/10
- Direction: 8/10
- Screenplay: 6.5/10
- Score: 8.5/10
- Cinematography: 8/10
- Entertainment Value: 7.5/10
- Overall score: 7.5/10
Star rating: 3.5/5
Verdict badge: One for Fans
One-line verdict: Wild, funny and gloriously over-dressed, with Keke Palmer at her most magnetic.
Watch the Official Trailer
Join the Velvet Gang with the official UK trailer.
Is Boots Riley’s wild style a thrill or a step too far for you? Share your spoiler-free reaction to I Love Boosters.