"I Love Boosters" Confusing, Messy, Funny

 


    I promise I am not becoming a Keke Palmer fan who will review all of her films, but what I will say is that I did in fact go to the theaters with my sister to watch another Keke Palmer film, and I enjoyed it. It's messy, it's flawed, and frankly it's a pretty confusing film, but it was funny. That comedy was sort of the main tentpole that held up the very large tent that is the film I Love Boosters, which tries to do so, so much, admirably so I might add. Yet I found myself leaving the film feeling as if it tried to do too much, it tried to fit so much under it's tent, and as a result it almost cheapened the true message, the beauty that was meant to be at the center of it all. Let's talk about it.

    I knew about this film when it came out, partially because of a fun movie auction activity I had done with friends, but I in fact did receive some minor promo of this film. Mainly someone posting a GIF from this movie, and a reddit post apparently from director, Boots Riley, begging people to go watch this film at 4AM. All of this to say, even with all of this knowledge at hand, I had no idea what to expect going in to watch this film, and after finishing it I still don't. For the uninitiated (I also didn't know what a booster was going into this film), a booster is someone who steals or "boosts" clothes to sell them later at a reduced cost. Based off of that you'd think this film might be relatively grounded, it would fit into the theme of people hustling on the streets to make a buck, but nope.

    Pretty much from the jump the film quickly disassembles any preconceived notions that this is any ordinary film. It jumps from low-concept to high-concept very quickly. Whether it be the ball of fear, doubt and anxieties that chases Corvette around the entire film (that exists but also doesn't), LaKeith Stanfield's character being a literal demon which by the way might be my standout from the film because he's hilarious, or the very sci-fi teleporter that's not actually a teleporter. Funnily enough, from my comments you'd think most of my complaints about this film hinge on this do-it-all doohickey that can "deconstruct, teleport and situationally accelerate" but I was actually willing to suspend my disbelief for that part. After all, it's a comedy, I don't care how realistic it is, I can suspend my disbelief for sci-fi devices.

    The issue is the plot sort of begins to trip over itself by the end. Don't get me wrong, the film is very creative and funny, it knows when to pull you in for come comedic gut punches, and I do love the bold and bright colours of the fashion. The issue is it dives headlong into a hole called 'happy endings" and I'm not sure it works as cleanly as they thought it did. I'm not saying I don't think this movie cannot or should not have had a happy ending, it's just that they basically do some weird thing to spray protestors and "accelerate them" and the "antangonist" just sort of walks away mad and smouldering. Yes they start a movement and a protest for better rights but you have this magical ray that can make the wildest things happen, and it just empowers people with super generic signs about protesting. 

    I'm not saying the signs being too vague is what ruined the movie for me, but I just thought it ended up being so surface level. You do get to see some glimpses of progress, the people began to make progress on fighting for better working conditions, pay and rights in the fashion industry, but it felt like they had the power to do so much, and the film ends as it starts, grounded. I just thought it might end on a wackier note.

Final Score: 65/100

    On a random note the dialogue was oddly quiet in this film, especially at the beginning. I'm pretty sure I missed how they somehow managed to acquire two teleporters in America? I will say the cast did a great job in this film, I basically have no notes. I'm not saying I wish this film was more streamlined but honestly it was quite confusing at times. I understand you're not actually supposed to understand the technology but it was basically Violeta acting as some exposition machine that somehow learned everything and is spewing random buzzwords at you to sound smart and it just kind of comes off as bizarre. I also did not recognize Don Cheadle at all during this film. I'd say it's worth watching once, it's at the very least a pretty film.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!" A Sonic Masterpiece

Image
    I remember when my friend Sweaty, first recommended  Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? to me. I was floored. Frankly, I'm as basic as it gets when it comes to rap or hip hop music. I can count on one hand the artists from that region of genres that I enjoy, and one of them is Kanye West who I listen to in shame these days. Regardless, I fell in love with the blend of jazz and rap that Dixon brought to that record, so much so that when it came time to listen to this record I decided not to listen to any of the singles beforehand. After all, for artists I like too much I usually can't resist seeing what singles they're putting out, and for records I care less about I usually don't worry about spoiling myself. Of course, that's not to say that the track-by-track reviews I'm about to do are my first listen, I did want to give this album an initial listen when it first came out, just in case some of the songs took a while to grow on me, so without further ado, my track-b...
Read more

"Chef" The Perfect Feel Good Movie

Image
      I don't even know how to write a proper review about this film because truthfully it's been one of my favourite films for a very long time. I remember as a teenager when I was down I'd just watch it as one of those feel-good movies I could enjoy, because that's what it is. It probably won't leave a profound impact on the way you view life, but what it will do is leave you with that special, fuzzy feeling inside, and that's what's important. I mean what's not to like, there's good food, there's family, and there's a happy ending. Really, the only reason you would dislike it is because you hate food for some reason, or just are generally unhappy with your own life to be honest.     I think I'd like to address some of the common criticisms of the film right away, mainly the one about the plot being a bit thin. Honestly, it's a pretty valid complaint, it's hard to argue against the plot of this film being fairly straightforward....
Read more

"Creature Commando's" Surprisingly Good for Seven Episodes

Image
    Honestly, this show was very much a tale of two halves for me. If you had asked me my opinion on this show after about two or three episodes, I would have been lukewarm on it. The plot felt pretty formulaic, and the only time I really managed to care about this show was when "The Bride" was on screen. Now, don't worry. There won't be any complaints about "woke" or how they ruined Frankenstein as a DC character, because frankly I didn't care too much about him or his role. But his appearance did mark by far the best part of this show, and that was shift away from your standard "team of misfits' show towards something that felt more real.     Now, don't get me wrong, this season is only seven episodes long you won't be blown away by intricate stories of how actually they're all the good guys, but what it does make you do is care about the characters, which is really hard with a show of this length. I mean seriously, whenever I see ...
Read more