Keke Palmer. Demi Moore. Fabulous clothes. Bright colours. A group of women stealing high-end fashion from people who can afford to lose it. I Love Boosters looks like it has all the ingredients for a wildly entertaining heist movie.

And then Boots Riley takes a very hard left turn.

In this episode of Movies I Give a Fork About, AJ looks at Riley’s colourful, ambitious and increasingly surreal blend of heist comedy, science fiction, political satire and outright absurdism. What begins as a seemingly straightforward story about the Velvet Gang soon becomes something much stranger — and raises an interesting question about how much expectations shape the way audiences experience a movie.

AJ digs into the film’s ideas about capitalism, exploitation, ownership and who actually profits from the things people create, while celebrating its extraordinary costumes, saturated visual style and a Keke Palmer performance that provides a much-needed human centre as everything around her becomes increasingly bizarre.

But ambition and originality don’t automatically create cohesion. With tonal shifts, conceptual leaps and enough ideas for several different movies, I Love Boosters becomes a fascinating example of what can happen when a filmmaker swings for the fences — and perhaps tries to hit every ball at once.

Is it a heist movie? A political satire? Science fiction? Absurdist comedy?

Yes.

And somehow that still doesn’t fully explain what the f#$k AJ just watched.

🍴 Movies I Give a Fork About

Movies don’t get stars — they get forks.

Hosted by AJ Jones, this podcast cuts through hype, marketing, and awards buzz to answer one simple question:

Is this movie actually worth your time?

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New episodes drop when a movie earns a fork.