It takes a staggering level of confidence just to conceive of the near-endless ideas I Love Boosters seems to have spilling out of its pinky finger, let alone actually rehearse them, discuss them, follow through on making them. Boots Riley strutted gleefully onto the stage at the Gala screening before encouraging everyone attending to go and see the film again when it releases and to bring “30 other people with them” when they do. Not sure if I could draw up an introduction that exemplifies confidence more. The unwavering belief Boots seems to have in both his vision and your willingness to be along for the ride suggests a rare spark that you immediately become jealous of the moment I Love Boosters kicks off. The film presents itself as “normal” for the first 3 minutes, then it quickly becomes clear that its primary concern is to abandon every code or convention your mind could jump to. Delighting and frolicking at any chance it can get to subvert you or surprise you. The result is a film overflowing with imagination and heart, a refreshing and rare example of a one-of-a-kind film that could only ever have been dreamed up by the man at the helm.

A telling moment occurs when our leading quartet (Keke Palmer, Poppy Liu, Taylour Paige, Naomi Ackie) hit a bit of a roadblock in their quest to topple the narcissistic empire of Demi Moore‘s cartoonishly villainous CEO ‘Christie Smith’. They’re trying to get a teleporter device to work in their favour, but they quickly learn that in order for their plan to work, they’ll need two teleporter devices. It’s at this exact moment Poppy Liu’s ‘Jianhu’ reveals that she has a second one in her back pocket. Thus, the roadblock is gone, and the mission continues. Normal film rules don’t apply to Boots Riley. Exposition-heavy dialogue, MacGuffin devices, convenient Deus ex machina, or any other standard cliché that would typically be viewed as a lazy oversight is instead an opportunity here for more fun. It’s also unconcerned with the practical or the logical as you could get; to write around believability is to place a barrier in the way of the funfair that Boots Riley has been waiting all day to play around in.

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There’s no overselling how much of an unfiltered madhouse this film is, and to anyone familiar with Boots Riley’s previous work (Sorry to Bother You, I’m a Virgo) this should be no surprise. Sorry to Bother You has an ending that I think serves as the loudest example of how differently Boots perceives the rules of filmmaking or plot structure, and I’d argue this film reaches that same intensity several times over within its first 30 minutes. His rules dictate that there are no rules, nor should there be any. This even applies to his titling conventions; I’d never even encountered the term ‘booster’ before this film, and Boots’ decision to name this film after his own declaration of personal love for them tells you a lot, I think. This film is quite celebratory, exerting mass pride towards the people on the ground that are day-by-day trying to dismantle or overthrow the very obviously corrupt world they’re stuck in. As a result, this film becomes yet another example of exactly that; when you look beyond the fanfare, you end up with a very personal film.

How attached can one get to someone else’s personal playground, though? This actually isn’t a question Boots Riley seems too concerned with answering. From what I can tell, as long as you’re invited in, he’s happy, but the characters showing us around present something of a barrier. I liked our leading four, but I never quite fell in love with them. You get some brief heart-to-heart exchanges between them, Naomi Ackie’s aptly named “Sade” providing the bulk of these. She is the sternest with the group and is aggressive in the care she has for our protagonist specifically. She frequently keeps Keke’s “Corvette” in check but also demonstrates plenty of her own naivety in the process, with one of the strongest ongoing gags being her commitment to ‘Dr. Jack’ (Don Cheadle) and his all-too-blatant pyramid scheme. Each of the main four boosters is a bit lost in one way or another, discontent and fighting for something more. I always got the sense that there are layers to these characters that the film isn’t showing me, and that’s okay. They are vehicles for the many satirical and absurdist capitalist takedowns first and foremost, which completely works, and it helps that they’re all being played by such fantastically enjoyable actors, but I think further bridging that gap between them and the audience could’ve been the ticket to making this film a complete home run.

Weirdly enough, I had no trouble immediately falling in love with the eclectic supporting cast, probably because the script is only ever asking them to be a fairly one-note sight gag. The implementation of these gags just always landed; the first frame of Will Poulter‘s ‘Grayson’ shows him awkwardly hand-dancing to far too loud dubstep music, with motions that look as if he’s casting spells with a wand or conducting an orchestra. Naturally, I immediately became desperate to see more of him. I can say the exact same for Demi Moore, Don Cheadle, LaKeith Stanfield & Eiza Gonzalez, all of whom meet the moment with wonderfully messy characters that give a fresh new spin on the madness you incrementally get used to seeing unfold throughout this film. LaKeith’s ‘Pinky Ring Guy’ is definitely the one I felt the most curious about, and this is by design: his entire subplot is shrouded in mystery, and there’s a strong allure between him and Keke Palmer’s ‘Corvette’ that is played for laughs as much as it is a strong anchor of intrigue. His performance comes along with a shaky accent and an even shakier camera, further deepening the lines Boots Riley seems both willing and excited to cross in regards to what he can express via the amusement park he calls filmmaking.

It can feel pointless to exclaim a film as being ‘not for everyone ‘, but this is one of those films where that is very overtly the case. This is the exact reason why it’s great, though: its success lives and dies by how long for the ride you’re willing to be. The biggest relief I felt watching was in how sure of itself it was. It assumes that somewhere along the way you will join in for that ride, even if you don’t. It’s this very confidence that gives way to some of the film’s best jokes, set pieces, and reveals. Some other filmmaker might be anxious to tighten up the accents, make sure there are no plot holes or loose ends, write within the constraints of the budget, get all the VFX looking believable. It’s rare to watch something that puts ideas first before all of this and execute those ideas with this amount of style and individuality.

If you’re looking for some of the loudest visuals of the year, some of the best haircuts and costumes of the year, some of the most scathing and targeted political commentary of the year, you can bank on I Love Boosters delivering all of those things. The stuff in between that’s a bit harder to measure is where your mileage may vary, but it’s tough to argue that you have ever seen a film quite like it. I know I definitely haven’t.

★★★★

In cinemas from October 30th / Keke Palmer, Poppy Liu, Taylour Paige, Naomi Ackie / Dir: Boots Riley / Neon / 15