Prodigal porn star parable has a lot going for it. Intriguingly scrubby deep Texas industrial locations; tasty cast of unknowns other than lead Simon Rex (blisteringly good/hilarious), who displays all the necessary porn star attributes (calm down, it’s a prosthetic); and director/co-writer Sean Baker’s non-judgmental/empathetic view of chain-smoking, drug-taking have-nots. But it also has just as many things going against it, all self-inflicted. Book-ended by more fully developed, more original projects from Baker (THE FLORIDA PROJECT/’17; ANORA/’24) and a third act that unnecessarily double-doses on forced melodrama and a ‘Postman Always Rings Twice’ twist. Rex’s played out porn star, following Robert Frost’s advice (‘Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.’) returns from Hollywood to Texas and his strung out estranged wife. She’s unwelcoming and living with Mom, but after a bit of wooing, brings him in on her own terms. Unable to get a real job after 17 years of screwing for a living, Rex goes back to a high school trade, penny-ante drug sales. Actually bringing in decent sums, but expanding into a new dangerous market of construction workers without approval. Meantime, he buds up with a stoned neighbor who remembers him from back in the day for companionship, and with an underage donut counter girl for something a bit more intimate. Soon, he’s dreaming of future glory back in L.A. with this girl and his own internet porn channel before getting that double-dose of comeuppance at the worst time. From Baker, who generally shows perfect control over all aspects of his work (he even does his own editing), it’s odd to see him miss the defining character of his own creation. Rex’s man-child just the sort of over-confident, personable fuckup who doesn’t need unexpected events to fail. Failure’s his default, his essence, what he does best. No unexpected bolt from above needed to miss life’s one big chance. He’ll forget to wind the clock and be secretly grateful to have a new story to add to his complaints on how he missed his moment . . . again. Not unlike this film* which came and went while FLORIDA and ANORA were out collecting well-deserved honors and coin.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: FLORIDA and ANORA just as good as you’ve heard. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-florida-project-2017.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2025/02/anora-2024.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *That poster certainly part of the reason this one missed its target audience. (see above) That’s no ballet guy in a tutu, but a reference to his teenage girlfriend’s job at the Donut Hole.
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