Mikey Saber (Simon Rex), a decorated porn actor, down on his luck, returns to his small Texas town in 2016 and attempts to reunite with his estranged wife, Lexi (Bree Elrod), while he gets back on his feet.  He finds it hard to shake his hustling tendencies despite trying to walk the straight and narrow and soon finds himself selling weed for mother/daughter duo Leondria and June (Judy Hill, Brittney Rodriguez), reconnecting with an old neighborhood pal, Lonnie (Ethan Darbone), and catching the eye of the young doughnut shop cashier, Strawberry (Suzanna Son). 

With Red Rocket, Sean Baker returns to direct a darkly comic character study for A24 that, like his previous efforts, focuses on the fringe members of modern society.  Written with frequent collaborator, Chris Bergoch, the two continue to place their lens over and investigate the uncomfortable truth that is the reality for so many left behind by the pioneers of the American dream.  Baker does so not just in the stories he chooses to tell, but he has a fascination with loading his cast with first-time actors in many of the ancillary roles. 

At the center of it all is Rex in a redefining role not dissimilar from Adam Sandler’s turn as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems (2019), another A24 release.  Rex is magnetic and bold on-screen and while his antics are through and through despicable, he is a real charmer and audiences are putty in his hand as he wins us over with a joke, a grin, and that glimmer in his eye.  So much of the film’s success with audiences rides on how quickly Rex can win them over despite his actions.  The goofiness and heart of gold persona he puts on are more than capable of making him a sympathetic character. 

Baker also treats the first two-thirds of his 130-minute narrative as a hangout film as we are invited along with Mikey as he meanders through the small Texas town.  There is a lot of control and thought as in the later sections of the film, many details that were seemingly placed as quirks that helped to flesh out the characters and the world of the film come back into play.  It is also in these moments of seeming nothingness that Baker informs us about the terminology used and the strife of workers in the adult film industry are subjected to.  It can be – and is – a very predatory industry where so-called “suitcase pimps” will exploit the women while they reap the rewards of their work.  Baker, however, does not treat this as celebratory behavior despite the awards lauded onto Mikey for his work, rather it is a condemnation as the screenplay allows the women in the film plenty of agency of their own despite Mikey acting as the apparent puppet master over the narrative. 

The biggest hurdle for Red Rocket to overcome is the intentionally unsettling relationship that forms between Mikey and Strawberry – who will be eighteen in a few more weeks.  It is, without a doubt, predatory and gross given what we know about Mikey’s intentions with her, but Baker, through the script, clearly does not endorse or glamorize the relationship and the film works to condemn it at every opportunity.  It is understandable that this will alienate many audiences, but those who persevere will find that Strawberry, more often than not, is getting one over on Mikey as she is not the innocent as she initially appeared.  It certainly does not justify the relationship or absolve Mikey, but it helps prove that Baker is not looking to glamorize this behavior. 

Baker’s use of first-time actors here is met with mixed results.  Son, Elrod, Darbone, and Brenda Dill as Mikey’s mother-in-law Lil all shine.  They all appear very comfortable and natural on camera, and it is a testament to both their own skill as well as Baker’s direction to ensure the actors feel safe performing some truly terrible acts that the script requires of them.  Not everyone is on that same level, and some of the other townspeople are a lot more rigid and have a far less polished delivery which is jarring during the viewing of the film.  Overall, those moments are few and far between, but it is curious that those were the takes Baker opted to use in the final cut in an otherwise meticulously polished film as far as performances are concerned. 

The final major point of discussion is the political climate in which Baker very deliberately chooses to set his film and allows it to loom over the story: the lead-up to the 2016 election.  Trump billboards are erected throughout the sparse town, his rally comments are transmitted across the televisions and radios, and red and blue lighting is constantly at play – and at war – with each other.  By framing Red Rocket around the election, he is making some bold comments about how modern politics on both sides of the aisle tend to misguide and lead astray anyone who is not in the elite echelons of society.  They come into these small towns to promote their ideas and show the everyman the error in their ways, promise prosperity, but the motives are always selfish.  It is the same with Mikey, coming in from California, telling everyone that he knows best and promises them the world, but they are all expendable pawns in his own return to success.  Since we look with sympathy at Strawberry who is being taken advantage of and cheer when Lexi finally stands up for herself, why do we not also demand better from our leaders? 

There is a lot more to Red Rocket than the premise initially leads us to believe, and the messaging is left wide open for interpretation, but Baker provides a lot of context for us to draw arguments from.  It is an understandably prickly movie given the central relationship which drives the film to become grittier than one would expect from its raunchy comedic setup that opens with the bursting energy of 90’s pop-anthem “Bye, Bye, Bye” – a music cue that will play an incredible role throughout the rest of the film.  Intentionally uncomfortable, Red Rocket is Baker making a bold statement and one that needs to be heard.  The unconventional delivery is upsetting at first, but after allowing time to process the film, the creative decisions made on the page help to inform and strengthen Baker’s central argument that we are being failed by our leaders every day and we need to stand up for ourselves and hold them accountable.