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When Mikey Davies (Simon Rex), bruised and cash-strapped, returns to his hometown after God knows how long at the start of Sean Baker’s vinegary black comedy Red Rocket, he’s worse than a sight for sore eyes, and knows it. With only the clothes on his back and $22 in his pocket, he abruptly shows up by way of L.A. on his estranged wife Lexi’s (Bree Elrod) porch in the economically depressed Texas City, Texas, gives her a phone call teasing a surprise, knocks on the front door, and crosses his fingers for a best-case scenario. Which turns out to be: Lexi being so furious that she threatens to call the cops until she’s ultimately won over enough by Mikey’s pity party to earn him a quick shower.

The reasons for Mikey’s sudden return come out in a spray of word vomit at the kitchen table. The TL;DR is that he’s going through capital-H hard times, with no one to turn to and fewer places to go. Lexi and her mother Lil (Brenda Deiss), whom she lives with, can’t be bothered to spare even a drop of sympathy: their death glares signal familiarity with a Mikey sob story. But when he promises he’ll head into town and find a job within the next few days, and that he’ll pay Lil $200 a week for rent once he pins something down, they grudgingly permit him to stay. 

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