The Velvet Gang is a crew of professional shoplifters who boost high end designer clothing to resell at affordable prices. They consider this a community service, which they call Fashion Forward Filanthropy. Heading up the crew is aspiring designer Corvette (Keke Palmer), along with her friends Mariah (Taylour Paige) and Sade (Naomi Ackie). As they plan for their next heist, the women get jobs at a Metro Designers store, working for insufferable manager Grayson (Will Poulter). The chain is owned by fashion icon Christie Smith (Demi Moore), who has been an idol of Corvette’s. However, when Corvette discovers that Christie stole one of her designs, she and her crew come up with a plan to boost everything across all of the Metro Designers stores in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Before the women are able to kick off their plan, someone else appears to have beat them to it—at least at the store they’re working at. Jianhu (Poppy Liu) stole what she believed to be a teleportation device from the Chinese government, and used it to escape the inhumane working conditions at Charlie’s garment factory in China. It turns out that “Teleportation” is just the first of three settings on the device, the other two being “Situational Accelerator” and “Deconstruct”. Jianhu asks The Velvet Gang to help her improve pay and working conditions for the other factory workers, and together they decide to use Metro Designers’ upcoming fashion show as the venue to enact their revenge on Charlie. However, activating the other two modes on the device leads to some unpredictable side effects, and the women’s actions accidentally spark a much bigger revolution.

I have never really been much of a Boots Riley fan—his TV shows and movies like I’m a Virgo & Sorry to Bother You may be visually creative, I generally find his stories to be a bit too bizarre, strange and nonsensical. I Love Boosters also suffers from this. The film starts off with this simple premise of these women plotting a heist of a fashion chain, with some fun, humorous moments like Corvette waddling out of the store, somehow unnoticed, after boosting loads of clothing which she is wearing under a ridiculously over-stuffed pink sweatsuit. She is barely able to walk, and resembles the little brother from A Christmas Story in his snowsuit.

However, things quickly go from funny to all out weird. Corvette is constantly having visions of some giant rolling ball of trash following her. She also keeps running into a mystery man wearing a pinky ring (LaKeith Stanfield). A friend who hooked up with him warns her that this man is a literal devil who sucked out her soul as they had sex—and then we see this play out in a flashback. Things continue to get quite bizarre, especially as the device enters the picture, with teleportation and two other reality-bending modes sending things off into wild directions, including skinless characters.

While I didn’t necessarily always get what was going on (that may require the use of recreational drugs), but the film was very creatively shot. There’s this constant, beautiful use of color that really pops. Each of Christie’s store locations is devoted to a different color, and when things aren’t monochrome, the mix of colors feels like a 1970s explosion. Christie’s office is also designed with a 15 degree slope, giving it an odd and unique feel, and underlying ridiculousness and humor. The cast is a lot of fun and have great chemistry with one another. There are also some nice cameos—such as a very unrecognizable Don Cheadle.

NEON/Alliance Home Entertainment have released I Love Boosters on 4K UHD/Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. We were sent the standard 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo release for review, which includes both a 4K UHD and Blu-ray disc, which are placed on either side of a standard 4K keepcase. As with all NEON releases, no digital copy is included. Our review copy did not include a slipcover, but it looks like the release may offer one. Both discs include the same bonus material, which consists of an audio commentary track, a blooper reel, nearly an hour of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast/director, as well as some trailers/tv spots and a photo gallery.

The 4K picture looks and sounds amazing, capturing everything in an excellent level of clarity and detail, and showcasing the rich, beautiful color palette of the production. To match its unique look, the film also has an equally unique score, provided by the Tune-Yards. The audio track provides clear dialogue throughout and showcases the film’s unique score while also utilizing the surround channel to immerse the viewer in this very odd and crazy world.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:53:12)

4K UHD:
• 2160p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Dolby Vision / HDR10
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, French SDH, French, Spanish SDH<, Spanish/li>

Blu-ray:

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
• Subtitles: English SDH, French SDH, French, Spanish SDH<, Spanish

Extras:

• The Making of I Love Boosters (32:19)
  Primarily raw behind-the-scenes footage, along with mock-up artwork, storyboards, and some interviews with various crew members scattered throughout, to give viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, including creating the effects, models, sets, and more. Those who are interviewed or appear in the footage include writer/director Boots Riley, 1st assistant director Milos Milicevic, composers Tune-Yards, production designer Christopher Glass, executive producer Michael Jackman, construction coordinator Ben Nichols, stunt coordinator Chelsea Bruland, head of VFX Christopher Warren, assistant costume designer Lindsey Hartman, costume designer Shirley Kurata, makeup department head Jeremy Dell, key makeup artist Autumn McKenney, makeup artists Christopher Osorio, Rocco Gaglioti & Kaya Cresswell, hair designer Jessi Dean, key hair stylist Dawn White, hair stylist Tracy Lawrence, assistant pros Mod Hall, and stars Keke Palmer (“Corvette”), Naomi Ackie (“Sade”), Taylour Paige (“Mariah”), Poppy Liu (“Jianhu”), Eiza Gonzalez (“Violeta”), Demi Moore (“Christie Smith”), LaKeith Stanfield (“Pinky Ring Guy”), Will Poulter (“Grayson”), Don Cheadle (“Dr. Jack”), Robin Thede (“Light-Skinned Mariah”) & Alan Z (“Li Pan”).
• Blooper Reel (9:19)
  Fun with the cast as they flub lines, deal with misbehaving props, improvise, and have fun on set.
• Feature Commentary with Boots Riley (1:53:13)
  Writer/director Boots Riley provides an informative commentary throughout the film, giving viewers a look into his thought process, providing a little more explanation of the story, and sharing behind-the-stories about the production.
• Interviews
  Interviews with the cast and crew. Select From:
  • Boots Riley and LaKeith Stanfield (9:22)
    Actor LaKeith Stanfield and writer/director Boots Riley sit down together (both wearing 10-gallon hats) to discuss working with one another, the characters, the fantastical world of the film, and more.
  • Keke Palmer and Demi Moore (8:33)
    Actors Keke Palmer and Demi Moore talk about they got involved in the film, their characters and costumes, working together, and more.
  • The Velvet Gang (8:18)
    Actors Taylour Paige & Naomi Ackie and Eiza Gonzalez & Poppy Liu talk about the fun they had making this movie and some of their favorite scenes.
• TV Spots
  Collection of TV ads for the film. Select From:
  • Deals (:33)
  • Fashion (:33)
  • Filanthropy (:33)
  • Crew (:33)
• Gallery
  Use the remote to step through this gallery of 30 behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards and concept artwork.
• Teaser (1:31)
• Trailer (2:02)

Final Thoughts:

I Love Boosters wasn’t for me, but I can see why others might really enjoy it. It’s wild, fun and non-stop craziness. Writer/Director Boots Riley knows how to make projects that are quite artistic and beautiful, and have a very unique look, feel and sound. However, story elements start to feel bizarre just to be bizarre, and the film lost me after a while. That said, the cast is great, and I think fans of Riley’s work will also enjoy this film. NEON’s 4K release looks and sounds excellent, and there is a solid selection of bonus material for the fans.