Red Rocket

The latest from Sean Baker (The Florida Project) is a darkly funny, humane portrait of an American hustler and a hometown that barely tolerates him.

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Starring Simon Rex in a magnetic, live-wire performance, the audacious new film from writer-director Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine), is a darkly funny, raw, and humane portrait of an American hustler and a hometown that barely tolerates him.

Con man Mikey (Rex) is back home in tiny Texas City, TX after flaming out in LA, scheming his way into the lives and pockets of his estranged wife and her mother. They know better, but Mikey’s charisma and optimism are persuasive. Red Rocket is both a dark comedy and a character-driven drama, in which Baker scrutinizes — with little judgement and not without sympathy — a distinctly modern kind of malignant narcissist.

Content advisory: sexually suggestive scenes, nudity, coarse language