By: Andrew Wing

Red Rocket is a 2021 American comedy-drama film directed by Sean Baker from a screenplay co-written with Chris Bergoch (co-wrote with Baker on his two previous films Tangerine and The Florida Project). It stars Simon Rex (Scary Movie franchise), Bree Elrod, and Suzanna Son.

The plot follows an ex-porn star Mikey Saber (Rex) who after finding himself down and out in Los Angeles, returns to his hometown of Texas City, Texas, and begins a relationship with a young woman named Strawberry (Son) who works the cash register at a local doughnut shop.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in competition for the Palme d’Or (where it lost to Titane - see my full review here) on July 14, 2021. It was released in limited theaters on December 10, 2021, by A24. It received a variety of awards and nominations, most notably coming from the National Board of Review which listed it among the top ten films of the year. Rex also won Best Actor awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the Independent Spirit Awards.

THE GOOD

Red Rocket was hands down one of my most anticipated films of 2021. The main reason is that it was directed by Sean Baker. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Baker, he broke onto the scene back in 2015 with his low-budget independent film Tangerine which received widespread acclaim, and then he really made waves in 2017 with the A24 coming-of-age drama The Florida Project, which was easily one of the best films of the past decade behind a phenomenal Oscar-nominated supporting performance from Willem Dafoe. With this though, he was back with A24 again, this time with a bonkers story revolving around an ex-porn star played by Simon Rex, the last actor on the planet you would expect to star in an awards contender type of film given that he is most known for starring in the horrendous Scary Movie franchise. The film came out in December only in limited theaters so I wasn’t able to see it until it came on demand, but it finally did and I didn’t hesitate to check it out. So let’s dive into this review and find out if Sean Baker has done it again. Keep reading to find out!

I briefly mentioned a little bit about Sean Baker as a director, but that didn’t do him justice. He was already one of the best directors in Hollywood after The Florida Project, but after this, I think he has cemented himself as one of the hottest names in the industry right now and I would have him in the top five to be completely honest. Even if he isn’t top five, he is still at least one of the most interesting filmmakers working. His direction here was amazing. From the camera placements to the free-flowing narrative structure, Baker crushed it. All of Sean Baker’s movies have their own style and they often are focused on the backdrop of where these main characters are living, which are usually in impoverished cities with characters in poor situations, and that was the case for Red Rocket. I don’t know what more to say, I loved Baker’s direction and I cannot wait to see what he does next!

Not only did Baker direct, but he also wrote the original screenplay for the film alongside frequent collaborator Chris Bergoch. I loved the script. The movie is the absolute definition of a comedy-drama. The movie is generally pretty funny and some might see it as more of a comedy given how funny Simon Rex is with his performance, especially at the beginning. However, the dramatic writing is arguably more impressive. With all the dramatic scenes in this, we get constant nerve-wracking scenes. They were so intense and you don’t get a second to breathe from start to finish in this movie and that’s a testament to Baker and Bergoch’s screenplay, which I would’ve loved to see get nominated for Best Original Screenplay.

Let’s not waste any more time though, it is time to address the best part of this movie, and that is Simon Rex. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised with Simon Rex being in the lead role with Baker being known for his unconventional casting choices, but I wasn’t expecting to say after watching that Rex might have given the best performance of the year. I mean he was that good. Rex is also a former porn star himself, so you can say it’s a sort of autobiographical performance if you want to call it that, and his performance was the center of this movie. He is excellent in the lead role and his character actually starts out charming, witty, and funny and he was difficult to take your eyes off. As the film goes on though, he becomes increasingly unlikeable and some of those initial traits that I found charming changed and showed that this guy is really strange, and you begin to see that he’s ultimately being a salesman to get what he wants.

The movie is mostly a character study of this unique protagonist and it becomes this haunting portrait of the state of our country. To finish up before I begin to over-analyze, there were certain scenes Rex gave that totally blew me away. There is one scene in the first third of the film where he gives this absurd monologue while just wearing a towel and he rambles utter nonsense for almost three to four minutes long. Another scene comes after he and his friend are responsible for a twenty-plus car pileup, and his acting in the scene had me on the edge of my seat holding my breath because I felt all of the feelings he was feeling at that moment. In conclusion, it’s absolutely insane that he didn’t get nominated for Best Actor, but this definitely isn’t the role the Academy would ever go for, and that is unfortunate.

While there is no debate that Rex was the best, all the supporting performances were incredible. All of their performances were so exasperated and the one who did that better than anyone else was Bree Elrod. Elrod played Mikey Saber’s wife Lexi, and she was outstanding. Like most of Baker’s cast members in his films, this was the first I had seen of Elrod and something tells me after this, it won’t be the last. The next performance that must be mentioned is Suzanna Son for her performance as Strawberry. Strawberry is the 17-year-old girl that Mikey becomes infatuated with, and Son just crushed every aspect of this role. She was beautiful and she has this one scene where she is singing, and it makes me think that not only does she have a bright future in the film industry, but also in the music industry if she wants to.

Aside from the direction and the performances, Red Rocket also had really strong music and cinematography. It’s weird to say that its music was good when it only used one single song, but it was used perfectly, and that song was “Bye Bye Bye” from the legendary band NSYNC. They begin the film with it and use it throughout the film and it was amazing. I haven’t been able to get the song out of my head yet and I won’t anytime in the foreseeable future. Next, the cinematography from Drew Daniels was incredible and he does a really great job here. It was shot in 16mm and Sean Baker has a unique eye when it comes to cinematography. Just like his films themselves have their own style, they all have their own visual style too, and like with The Florida Project, the cinematography isn’t always showing off but it always has this effect on you as you’re watching it. It looks vibrant which is impressive considering its setting and there are so many shots of the backdrops that were able to capture the poverty of this city, which added another layer to the film.

THE BAD

I really enjoyed the movie, but I could definitely see a lot of people not liking it. The main reason is that the protagonist if I can even use that word, is a piece of shit, to tell the truth. The character is basically a scumbag and I ultimately thought we would get this character arc, but without spoiling the end, he doesn’t get redeemed at the end and just has no redeemable qualities. He doesn’t grow from beginning to end, he remains a crappy person. It didn’t bother me a ton because I was enthralled with Rex’s performance of the character, but I think it will be too big of a pill to swallow for most audiences.

Another problem with this movie is that it runs way too long. It has a runtime of 128 minutes and that is like 30 minutes longer than it should’ve been if you ask me. There were some things that happened for no reason. For example, there was this one storyline that was briefly discussed but it never came to fruition so things like that didn’t need to be included if they weren't going to be explained. I know some people will say this is art so not everything needs to have a reason behind it and things can just not have an explanation. However, when it comes to movies, they do need to be explained in my opinion. Also, I knew where it was going and I was kind of waiting for it to get to certain places and with a character like this, it got exhausting at times. To end my ranting, I think if it condensed itself a little bit, it might have been a stronger film.

In conclusion, there is one more thing I need to address. And that is the fact that this movie is pretty graphic. I mean you shouldn’t be shocked because Red Rocket’s premise revolves around a retired porn star, and it isn’t like rated X graphic or anything, but there are some pretty dirty scenes so be prepared. It also just leaves you kind of uncomfortable and feeling gross when you realize it is about a relationship involving a 17-year-old girl and a middle-aged man.

THE VERDICT

Despite some of the film’s flaws, Sean Baker has again crafted something really unique and fascinating with Red Rocket. Simon Rex gave what I think just might’ve been the best lead performance of 2021, and Baker continues to affirm that he is one of those writer-directors you should be looking out for. The film hasn’t left my mind since I watched it, and a lot of that is thanks to the incredible use of NSYNC’s “Bye Bye Bye” that I cannot stop singing.