[FILM REVIEW] RUB Review (2023)

Summary: Meet Neal. He’s lonely, gets bullied at work, and is unlucky in love. At the suggestion of a co-worker he decides to go to a massage parlor and in the process his life changes in ways he never would have imagined.

Year: 2023

Cinema Release Dates:  TBA (Australia), TBA (Thailand), TBA (UK), TBA (USA)

VOD Release Dates: 1st August 2023 (USA)

Country: USA

Director: Christopher Fox

Screenwriter: Christopher Fox

Cast: Alex Anderson (Steve), Westley Barrington Artope (West), Carol Bash (Ashley), Matt Cumo (Matt), Jennifer Figuero (Perla), Rob Figuero (Detective Miller), PJ Landers (Trevor), Olivia Larsen (Olivia), Hunter McMann (Young Neal), Alex Morsanutto (Tanner), Michael Muzzilo (Doug), Tara Nicole (Samantha), Evgeniya Orudzheva (Vivana), Nicole Rutgliano (Tiffany), Amelia Sasson (Sandy), Micah Spayer (Neal), Steve Strickland (Detective Brynt), Inna Yesilevskaya (Olga)

Running Time: 105 mins

Classification: TBC (Australia), TBC (Thailand), TBC (UK), TBC (USA)

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Harley Woods’ Rub Review

Rub is a new film by writer / director Christopher Fox. The story centres around Neal, a lonely man desperate for love and happiness who gets bullied at work. At the suggestion of a co-worker he decides to go to a massage parlour and in the process his life changes in ways he never would have imagined.

I had no idea what I was about to watch when I got this and only knew when the title card came up: RUB – with the tag-line: Not all endings are happy. I immediately started to get a sense of where things might be going.

  Unsure of what to expect, I did find my mind starting to fill the blanks on what I might see, but I think I got something a little better.

  At the beginning we meet Neal, played by Micah Spayer. Dressed a nerdy, quiet guy in a dead-end office job where he is bullied and keeps to himself. He’s clearly not happy and spends whatever moments he can sneaking a peak at online dating sites, hoping to find love. We come to see that he is very unlucky in love and the image that everyone has of him seems to be what he lives up to, despite the life he fantasises of.

  The beginning of this film is a bit of a slow burn, painfully introducing us to the unhappy world of Neal. It starts to get all the hallmarks of a movie about a guy who snaps and ‘goes postal’ but, thankfully, the film is not that simple. The slow pace and the desperation was a bit difficult to watch in the beginning; not that we don’t feel for Neal, but that the situation doesn’t exactly play out well.

  The bullying and pranking at work that set him off on his life-changing series of events is quite horrible but also quite ridiculously unbelievable. I do feel this part of the film, at least, could have had a better execution. The people who surround him at work seem to be the worst people on Earth and act like rejects from a weak school drama.

  However, I have to say that sticking with the story beyond this is far more rewarding. We actually get to see Micha Spayer shine in his performance as Neal, going through all the different stages of victimhood, grief, depression and then, out of desperation, returning to the one place in recent history that gave him a moment of happiness (despite the negative associations attached to it).

  It is his return to the seedy massage parlour – or ‘rub and tug’ joint, as one character refers to it – that develops the story and upheaval of Neal’s life. A life-threatening situation sees him and his masseuse, Perla (played perfectly by Jennifer Figuereo), flung into a desperate situation which finds them both on the run.

  What starts as a quite ridiculous and unlikely-feeling set of events actually starts to play out into an nice character relationship between these two characters. This is where this movie shines; with some surprisingly good moments coming out between the pair that feel quite unexpected in this movie, based on how it started.

  The peripheral stories that form, such as the people they encounter and the different parties that are out searching for Neal and Perla don’t feel fully realised and it does get to feeling like a big chunk of the story is missing by the time you reach the end. However, mention must be made of Westley Barrington Artope’s portrayal of the character of West, who shows the down-and-out pair kindness and brings a moment of light and hope into their world. This was a nice, solid performance for, essentially, a bit-part that gave a nice moment of grounding for things to develop toward the final section of the film. He is the blessed ‘calm before the storm’ of Neal’s sudden breakdown; the weight of the desperate situation, the fear, all of the emotional fallout he’s been holding down…

  As a look at men’s mental health, it’s not bad but certain elements of this probably needed a better foundation and execution. However, as a real ‘fish out of water’ concept about a man who has taken on the identity of a bit of a ‘victim’ his whole life, I did find some merit in the idea behind it and some good moments from our leading man.

  The scripting of the final section is another portion that feels like it could have done with another polish in order to give a little more feel of ‘logic’ in the sequence of events, though the emotional handling of the situation is done quite well; it just could have been strengthened some by a rewrite.

  There’s also an ‘impending threat’ in terms of people looking for the pair of runaways, including a couple of somewhat sketch law enforcement officials, that feels like it could have been built a little more and a little better in order to give the audience a better sense of the threat and where the film could be heading. I do feel the fact that they are introduced should have been made more off, especially when some of the characters cross paths but then it never comes up again.

All-in-all, this is a movie with some flaws but I do feel it was worth sticking through, as it proved to be an interesting concept – if not executed to its fullest potential – but the real reward was the character drama it explored between our protagonists. I’d like to see where the cast and crew go from here.

Harley’s rating Out Of 5

Average Subculture rating Out Of 5

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