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Red Rocket

100 Movies of 2021

Red Rocket

2021

Sean Baker

Simon Rex, Bree Elrod, Brenda Deiss, Suzanna Son ...

6.7

4,153

Drama Mikey Saber is a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, not that anyone really wants him back.

	Author	Review
United States	David Rooney The Hollywood Reporter	"It’s a pleasure to put yourself in Baker’s capable hands as he ambles through his loose story with its affectionate, slyly humorous character observations and immersive sense of place".	POS
United States	Peter Debruge Variety	"Once upon a time, shooting porn would have been the fastest form of sabotage. But in this fractured fairy tale, it could well be the path to his redemption."	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"Sean Baker has given us an adult American pastoral, essentially a comedy, and another study of tough lives at the margin, close in spirit to his lo-fi breakthrough Tangerine (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Ben Croll The Wrap	"The film may be another Baker indie drama about sex workers, but it’s also got plenty to say about the last four years (...) 'Red Rocket' is more than just a character study"	POS
Canada	Mae Abdulbaki Screen Rant	"Slow and frustrating, 'Red Rocket' fluctuates between trying to say something and getting lost in its own premise (...) It afloat when it doesn’t truly have any character growth (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Tim Grierson Screendaily	"Building off the scrappy beauty of Tangerine and The Florida Project, director Sean Baker again trains his sights on a vivid milieu and a fascinatingly singular character (...) Keeps the audience glued to the screen"	POS
United States	David Ehrlich IndieWire	"Utterly singular and weirdly lovable (...) Baker ditches the corporate utopia of Disney World in favor of a more rustic vision of the American Dream"	POS
United States	David Katz The Film Stage	"He is sensitive to the fact that adults can and maybe should enjoy pornography and the labor of that industry deserves as much or more respect than other forms of work (...) Maybe [this] story deserves less of a fairy tale hue"	NEU
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Over-plotted, over-aestheticized, under-characterized, and under-observed (...) The nonprofessional actors have extraordinary presences, yet Baker allows little interaction at all that doesn't seem directorially guided"	NEG
United States	Ben Kenigsberg rogerebert.com	"'Red Rocket' is a joy (...) Baker has emerged as an essential filmmaking voice"	POS
Canada	Jim Tudor Screen Anarchy	"Sticky-sweet seduction (...) 'Red Rocket' blasts audiences with a thoroughly magnetic romp with a ridiculously unshakable main character"	POS
United States	A.A. Dowd AV Club	"Simon Rex is a revelation in Sean Baker's pointed new comedy (...) 'Red Rocket' never loses its comic edge, even when the story grows darker"	POS
United States	Richard Roeper Chicago Sun-Times	"A gem (...) Much of the subject matter is dicey and might well be deemed offensive by some viewers, but Baker handles the sensitive material without exploitation. This is an admirable work (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Justin Chang Los Angeles Times	"Some of the movie's more pointed conversations broach the dubious sexual politics of the porn industry, and the story's most important development offers a pointed corrective to it"	POS
United States	Kathleen Sachs Chicago Reader	"I won't deny that the film is funny in parts. But as everything it's touted to be, it comes up short, much like the protagonist himself (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 4)"	NEU
United States	Matt Dougherty IGN	"This is the performance of Simon Rex's career by a long shot (...) Director Sean Baker continues his strong career of shedding light on the fringes of American society with incredibly human stories"	POS
United States	Richard Lawson Vanity Fair	"Simon Rex is sensational (...) Baker's choice is a rather perfect one —in contextual terms and actual ones, too (...) 'Red Rocket' is yet another example of Baker's keen handling of actors, professionals and not"	POS
United States	Pat Brown Slant	"Sean Baker's 'Red Rocket' takes a sharp scalpel to American individualism (...) A trashily charismatic performance from Simon Rex (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Jason Gorber SlashFilm	"A wonderful journey with these characters, and provided you allow yourself the time and space to strap in and take the journey that this remarkable filmmaker is leading you on, 'Red Rocket' proves to be an absolute blast"	POS
United States	Natalia Keogan Paste Magazine	"By way of candid humor, a magnetic performance from Rex and Baker's careful attention for authenticity, 'Red Rocket' is a sympathetic profile of a porn star past his prime"	POS
United States	Joshua Rivera Polygon	"'Red Rocket' is the ultimate hangout with the ultimate dirtbag (...) An incredible feel-bad comedy (...) Simon Rex's performance sweeps up everything around it, including the movie's audience"	POS
United States	Leah Greenblatt Entertainment Weekly	"He's become a dedicated chronicler of the shabby, uncelebrated fringes. That he does it with so much affection and so little judgment is what sets his films apart, even if the good faith doesn't translate into storytelling rigor"	POS
United States	Trace Sauveur Austin Chronicle	"Baker's most nuanced character study yet, one that's often as hilarious as it is horribly uncomforting (…) Rating: ★★★★½ (out of 5)"	POS

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Red Rocket

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