Review: Red Rocket

Image courtesy of A21.

Sean Baker's latest film, "Red Rocket," is another addition to his oeuvre depicting those living on the margins, although the lead character of this picture is one who previously found success, but has fallen on hard times and is living on the down-and-out. That character is Mikey (a very good Simon Rex), a former porn star pushing 50 years old who has returned to his Texas hometown to crash with his former wife and porn co-star, Lexi (Bree Elrod), and her mother (Brenda Deiss), both of whom are skeptical about his intentions and with good reason.

Set against the backdrop of the 2016 presidential election - another story involving a sleazy grifter who shows up to make life hell for everyone he comes across - Mikey's foibles at first involve his trying to scrounge together enough money to give to Lexi and her mother, so that he'll have a place to crash. To be fair, he attempts to find work as a waiter and other assorted jobs, but when it comes up that he's Mikey Saber, who has starred in thousands of adult films and won an AVN award for the best blowjob received in a movie, well, let's just say the job offers don't come pouring in.

Pretty much everything Mikey touches turns to shit, whether it's denying Lexi a simple favor that could help her overcome custody issues with her child, who is not Mikey's, or leading astray Lonnie (Ethan Darbone), a next door neighbor who is obviously impressed by Mikey's lies - which include everything from his prowess (he takes pills to gain an erection) to his "81 percent click-through rate" online. For work, he begins selling weed supplied by an older woman named Leondria (Judy Hill) and her hot-tempered daughter, June (Brittney Rodriguez).

But the worst of Mikey's sins is getting involved with a donut shop clerk named Strawberry (Suzanna Son), who - cringe - "turns 18 in three weeks." Mikey sees something in Strawberry, and by that I mean her ability to possibly become a porn star and, in turn, help his star to rise once again as a scouter of talent. The two begin an affair, and Mikey egregiously first tells her that he works in Hollywood, until she finds out he is Mikey Saber, and then he tries to sell her on that industry.

Baker's films - which include the remarkable "The Florida Project," but also "Tangerine" and "Starlet" - are often about people living at the edges of society, and many of the characters in his films are involved in some type of sex work. He revisits that milieu here - Lexi, we are told, turns tricks to pay rent - but Mikey is viewed as less of a sex worker and more of, as another character calls him, a "suitcase pimp."

It's become de rigueur for a film to follow a character who is of little redeeming value as a person, but that doesn't make "Red Rocket" any less entertaining or compelling. Often quite funny, but just as often disturbing, the film isn't as much of a downer as it might sound. In fact, the manner in which Mikey's lies finally catch up to him result in a hilarious comeuppance of the type that, in real life, often evades sleaze artist con men.

While "The Florida Project" remains Baker's masterpiece, "Red Rocket" is a very well made and acted - Rex especially - film about a man so completely lacking self awareness that when he finally finds himself facing the consequences of his actions, he seems utterly dumbstruck. Although occasionally queasy - as such a story demands - "Red Rocket" is another strong entry into Baker's filmography, and a likely vehicle for Rex's career reboot. It's well worth seeing.