The only communication I’ve ever had with Boots Riley was when he sent me a DM saying his Disqus account had been hacked a few months earlier. The supposed hacker changed the account email to a fake address, and Riley asked me to remove it so he could regain the ability to post on the site. I’m not kidding. Boots is lurking in the comments section.
Regardless, it might seem like Neon is in the good graces of Cannes after landing its seventh consecutive Palme d’Or on Saturday, thanks to “Fjord,” but here’s Riley confirming his latest Neon-produced film couldn’t crack the Cannes line-up.
The filmmaker’s “I Love Boosters” opened on Friday. It stars Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, Taylour Paige, Poppy Liu, Eiza González and LaKeith Stanfield. Released in 1750+ theaters nationwide, it only made just over $3.5M this weekend.
When Riley was asked by someone on X why Neon chose to launch the film at SXSW rather than Cannes, he said the festival rejected the film, along with his previous projects, including his 2018 dark comedy feature debut “Sorry to Bother You” (which premiered at Sundance instead) and his comedy series “I am a Virgo.”
Cannes didn’t pick Sorry to Bother You although they picked other stuff that had been played in their home country. They picked “The Idol” over I’m a Virgo. They didn’t pick “I Love Boosters.” They just don’t like my stuff. All good.
Some shade thrown at Sam Levinson’s “The Idol” there, which indeed premiered at Cannes 2023 to mediocre reviews. “I’m A Virgo” premiered that same year, so I gather Cannes preferred to screen Levinson’s show instead of Riley’s, which was met with acclaim.
“I Love Boosters” is Neon’s most expensive film ever, with a budget of $20M. The story centers on a ring of female shoplifters known as the Velvet Gang, led by Corvette. They survive by “boosting” clothing from department stores. Their next target, however, is the CEO of a designer brand who has stolen Corvette’s idea—prompting her to seek payback and inadvertently ignite a “revolution.”
‘Boosters’ currently sits at 70 on Metacritic and 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. I have yet to see it since I’ve been away for two weeks now, but plan to soon — “Sorry to Bother You” was certainly an original vision and introduced Riley as a filmmaker to watch. Seven years later, he’s finally released another film.
Has anyone caught up with ‘Boosters’ this weekend? What did you think of it—did it land for you, or fall short of the hype?
This, I did not expect. Sure, I figured Ben Affleck's "Animals" wasn't going to contend for Oscars in any way (it completely skipped the fall festivals), but for it to be getting such toxic reviews? That's unexpected.