Movie Review: Red Rocket

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A well-made character study. 

So much of this movie hangs on the performance of Simon Rex. This is not an easy part to play by any means. His character is a washed-up porn star who simply uses anyone who trusts him to get back to the top. Not only does Rex have to play such an unlikable character, but he has to play him in a way that he is charming enough to believe that people buy into his lies. He does this perfectly, expertly balancing the charm and the underneath sliminess of the character. There are times when we too get caught up in our charms. But before we can get to the point where we are actually rooting for him, we snap to senses and remember just how horrible this man is. That is the brilliance of this performance that we can equally be revolted by this character, yet unable to look away. The script (written by director Sean Baker and Chris Bergoch (who have previously collaborated on The Florida Project (2017) and Tangerine (2015))) does a great job of telling us this story of a horrible person without ever moralizing to us. The script neither condemns nor endorses his behavior but instead just simply shows it. This creates a film that is much more emotionally effective than if we were told what to think. 

This film does have its flaws though. While our main character, his wife and his 17-year-old girlfriend are all quite interesting to watch characters, many of the other characters are not very interesting. This is especially true of the next-door neighbor. This character is downright boring and is so obviously just there to give our main character someone to talk to and confide in. Unfrotantly the scenes these two characters share most consist of dialogue that is too obviously simply exposition and little else. In fact, the next-door neighbor character could have been left out of the film and nothing really would have been lost. The movie is also longer than is needed to tell the story and a little trimming would have helped. 

None of those faults though change how dynamic the main character is nor how truly smart the script can be. And with that in mind, I definitely recommend this film.