Boots Riley has never been interested in polite entertainment. As the provocateur behind The Coup, the writer-director who detonated “Sorry to Bother You,” and the mind that turned “I’m a Virgo” into a neon-bright philosophical tantrum, Riley’s specialty is hijacking familiar forms—then rewiring them with satire, surrealism, and righteous anger. His worlds play like a funhouse mirror held up to consumer culture, and there are no safe exits. Whether he’s skewering office capitalism or cosmic celebrity, he writes with the rhythm of protest music—hooks first, then a left turn into something that stings long after you laugh.
That same sensibility powers “I Love Boosters,” Riley’s new sci-fi heist comedy, recently selected as the opening-night film of the 2026 SXSW Film & TV Festival, where it will world premiere on March 12 in Austin. The festival is selling it as a “mind-bending” ride driven by razor-sharp social commentary, fearless surreal storytelling, and eye-popping imagery—basically a mission statement for Riley’s whole career.
The setup is deceptively simple: a crew of professional shoplifters known as The Velvet Gang aims to take down a cutthroat fashion maven. It’s like community service. But the movie’s version of “retail therapy” comes with consequences. Corvette (Keke Palmer)—the crew’s sharp-tongued leader—targets a designer-brand CEO accused of stealing her ideas, and what starts as payback spirals into a broader, unintended revolt against the machinery of taste, labor, and exploitation.
Co-star Taylour Paige says the film doesn’t choose between fun and fury. “It’s funny… there’s so much commentary, but it’s fed to you in the most entertaining, fashionable, cunty way,” she told Deadline. She also teases the movie as a true left-field object: “It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before. It was so much fun to make.”
The ensemble is stacked: Palmer, Paige and Naomi Ackie star alongside LaKeith Stanfield, Eiza González, Poppy Liu, Will Poulter, Don Cheadle, Demi Moore, Jason Ritter, Kerris Dorsey, and Kara Young. Riley writes and directs, with Aaron Ryder, Andrew Swett, Allison Rose Carter, and Jon Read among the producers.
Neon will release “I Love Boosters” in theaters on May 22, 2026, following its SXSW premiere in March. If Riley’s track record holds, expect a caper that moves fast, looks expensive, and leaves you laughing—right up until you realize the joke is about the world you live in. Watch the new teaser trailer below.
