![]() ![]() He even persuades his ex, Lexi (Bree Elrod), to let him move in, even though she has neither seen nor heard from him in years. He can talk his way into, and out of, almost any sort of conceivable jam. Set amid the 2016 presidential election, the duo approaches their film as a character study. He fits snugly into a story compiled by Baker and his regular writing partner, Chris Bergoch, which melodically meanders like the soft Texas drawl emanating from every local Mikey has the opportunism to meet. And because Rex really is an ex-porn star, it’s hard to tell what’s autobiographical and what’s not. Rakishly handsome despite nearing 50, Mikey, like Rex, possesses something approaching eternal youth behind the beguiling smile a fox affects when invited into the hen house. 'Don't Look Up': Ariana Grande concert scene filmed in WeymouthĬharming? An ex-porn star? Bet on it! With ex-MTV VJ Simon Rex filling Mikey’s bargain-basement shoes, charm seems much too mild a term for how this very bad boy worms his way into your heart, despite his consistently despicable behavior. Like us, they are no match for this charming hustler. He’s met with anger, but only temporarily. His first destination is the shabby, rundown home of his estranged wife and mother-in-law. With no place to go but up, he hightails it back to his hometown of Texas City, a mecca of gasoline production about to be set ablaze. And like most confidence men of white privilege, he does what he pleases despite being dead broke and fresh out of opportunities. But right now it’s one of the best things around.He’s the lazy, scheming anti-hero our fractured nation deserves. It’s one of those films that you luck into, rather than plan to see, maybe. Ironically or not, it takes a brilliant low-budget movie like Red Rocket to connect those dots more effectively than films with fifty times its budget. TV rubbish, low-rent smut, modern politics…. ![]() While Lexi and her mother watch their reality shows and Judge Judy knock-offs, sharing the TV screens is the campaigning Donald Trump. She sees Mikey as her ticket out of Texas, while Mikey sees Strawberry as his way back into fame and fortune.īut anyone looking at this modern Bonnie and Clyde would be unwise to bet on their prospects. Strawberry may be young but she’s not naïve. After years trawling the underworld of Z-grade independent movies, Rex takes hold of the character of Mikey Saber and runs with it.Įven a loser can get lucky sometimes, thinks Mikey when he runs into Strawberry. The other secret weapon of Red Rocket is star Rex. He knows how to make us interested in his characters and - even rarer - to like people who on the surface are totally unlikeable. The first is writer/director Baker.īaker has a gift – one you don’t learn in courses on “How to make movies that sell”. Having got this far – and I haven’t even mentioned young Strawberry who’s got trouble written all over her – I suspect some of you are wondering “Why should I care what happens to these unsavoury people?” So next he has to find paying work, and the only people hiring aren’t exactly legal.īut beggars can’t be choosers, so Mikey sets off down the Primrose Path on a borrowed girl’s bike, but always keeping an eye out for opportunity. Mikey lasted longer but got into trouble with too many people – hence the black eyes and the trip back home. Lexi lasted a couple of years in the “Adult Film Business” before she quit it – and Mikey - and went home. Not Tinseltown, Lala Land Hollywood - real Hollywood where you take whatever job is going. He ran away from Texas with Lexi and they ended up in Hollywood. Mikey’s been living off the books now for years. Mikey sweet-talks Lexi into putting him up – he can sleep on the couch in front of the TV – while he looks for work. ![]() He knocks at the door of his estranged wife Lexi, where she lives with her deadbeat mother Lil. Mikey Saber gets off the bus with nothing to his name but the clothes he’s standing up in and two black eyes. And his latest Red Rocket brings the action to hard-scrabble Texas. The follow up - the brilliant Florida Project with Willem Dafoe - centred on the 6-year-old daughter of another prostitute. Baker seems to have a thing about outsiders. ![]()
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