I knew Sean Baker was going to put it all together for me eventually. Baker’s last two films, Tangerine and The Florida Project, are pretty damn entertaining stories about what life is like living on the fringes of American society. Red Rocket, his third, hits at the heart of what life can be like living in the society America has created. Plus, I see you Simon Rex! Where my Scary Movie 3 stans at?
Rex plays Mikey, an over the hill porn actor from LA who arrives beaten up by bus in his hometown, Podunk Texas City. Strapped for cash, he convinces his ex-wife Lexi (Bree Elrod) and her mom Lil (Brenda Deiss) to let him stay there until he gets back on his feet. A brilliant salesmam, Mikey starts over; he goes to the local drug dealer Leondria (Judy Hill) to deal and make a quick dollar. He uses his local celebrity to get rides from his neighbor Lonnie (Ethan Darbone) wherever he wants, and he becomes enamored with the local 17 year old donut shop girl (Suzanna Son, don’t worry, that’s legal in Texas for some reason), who likes when Mikey calls her Strawberry.
Ah, the American Dream. Sean Baker is fascinated at telling stories from the bottom rung of the ladder, showing the consequences of living the life American Society is built upon. Mikey is fascinating because he American Dreamed his way to his version of the top, and now finds himself at the bottom again. His character is a walking encapsulation of buying into what you need to succeed. Mikey views himself as a commodity: he’s always selling something to someone. To Lil/Lexi, he’s selling his charm and maybe some rent money. To Lonnie, Mikey sells status, given his relative import in a small town. And to Strawberry, Mikey’s all to willing to give his celebrity and body, so he in return, can use all these people as a means to his personal end. Baker shows the highs and lows of living like Mikey does: his charm is wholly magnetic, as certain types of people are drawn to him like college students to beer/marijuana commercials. But the more time you spend with Mikey, the more you realize “fake it till you make it” has the word “fake” in it, and Mikey is nothing but empty promises and transactional friendships Mikey will cut and run from when others ask him for real help. You can feel the joy/satisfaction of people in Mikey’s orbit when things are good…but you ache for these sweet naive people when Mikey decides to cut bait during moments of vulnerability. I nearly cried at Lexi and Lonnie’s despondent realization that this guy they thought they forged a connection was just using them. Baker is always reminding the audience of this last part, because no matter how self-assured Mikey is riding that bike to the donut shop, behind him always is the oil processing encapsulation of pure capitalism, sucking him dry at the same time he gets sucked dry literally and figuratively.
But all of this works because of the lead from Scary Movie 3. Simon Rex’s career path resembles Mikey’s, just not in porn. That’s probably why Rex is so mesmerizing here, channeling his personal career arc into Mikey’s. We all have that charming leech of a person somewhere in our lives, and Rex uses all that amazing persona to show why the affably accomodating Lexi and Lil would keep giving Mikey second chances. Rex deserves all the awards buzz he is getting here, embodying American capitalism maybe better than Gordon Gekko himself. But Baker is much better than just his ability to cast leads. Supporting Rex are a bunch of outstanding supporting performances as well. Bree Elrod isn’t a household name, but hopefully Red Rocket makes her one, as she turns Lexi into the movie’s tragic figure, thankfully making her just smart enough to cut Mikey loose before things get too bad. Ditto for Brenda Deiss in a smaller role, inhabiting that sweet small town Texan mother-in-law with just the right mixture of headstrong, simple, and empathetic. Suzanna Son embodies Mikey’s version of the ideal American woman well enough, twanging her way right into his dollar covered heart, but naive enough to make the audience conflicted about how they feel about her. And Judy Hill and Brittany Rodriguez play a version of small town drug queenpins I’ve never seen before, but are so interesting I would almost like to see the movie from their perspective.
Red Rocket takes place during the 2016 election. How brilliant on Baker’s part! Mikey is the unholy union of Trump’s walking snake oil salesman persona and Hillary’s obsession for power. And watching those two fight over fiscal policy shows just how far down the ladder Texas City really is, forgotten by the politics of today and somehow embodying them at the same time. I don’t really feel too good about my predicament after Red Rocket, but I do feel vindicated thinking that the funny guy from Scary Movie 3 should be in more movies.