The one thing you can expect from a Boots Riley film is the unexpected. The Oakland multihyphenate has made his mark as an activist and rapper, and in recent years, he’s focused his creative energy on making films weirder than almost anything else Hollywood has to offer. His most recent projects, “Sorry to Bother You” (2018) and “I’m a Virgo” (2023), are both mesmerizing surrealist commentaries on social issues that are as thought-provoking as they are entertaining.
Now, he’s back with his next project, “I Love Boosters,” an ode to a gang of Bay Area clothing store robbers. The film, which he wrote and directed, is slated to premiere at South by Southwest in March before a wider theatrical release on May 22. The movie stars Keke Palmer as Corvette, the leader of “the Velvet Gang.” LaKeith Stanfield, who played the lead in “Sorry to Bother You,” also appears, as do Demi Moore and Don Cheadle.
If the first trailer is any indication, Riley’s maximalist style will be on full display. The trailer opens with Palmer sitting for a job interview in a designer clothing store that appears to sell only items that are the color green. She declares that her biggest challenge would be wanting to take all the merchandise home. “I just feel like, ‘Give it to me, it’s mine anyway,’” she said. “That is such a good answer,” the store clerk replies…