The new feature from Christopher Fox, Rub, follows a down-and-out man named Neal (Micah Spayer) as he navigates life in a world that doesn’t respect or understand him. He meets a masseuse named Perla (Jennifer Figueroa) and after a life changing incident, the two hit the road, with danger hot on their heels. Sounds exciting, right? So why doesn’t it quite work? Well, therein lies the Rub. 

Neal works a thankless job in a group of men whom he seems to vacillate between wanting to be left alone from and desperately wanting their affirmation. After one of them mocks him for his lack of sex life, he takes their advice to go to a local massage parlor that guarantees a “happy ending” There he meets Perla who transforms his life and puts a necessary pep in his step. He walks into work the next day confident and happy but his good time is dashed immediately when his jerk of a boss makes fun of him and claims that he set him up as a joke and that Neal is pathetic. 

Neal pounces on his boss and then goes home angrily. He goes back to the massage parlor where he’s with Perla, when two men come in with guns presumably to rob the place. From there begins a road trip full of love-bombing, paranoia, toxic masculinity, microaggressions and more. And this is from our would be protagonists! The love birds are on the run from the robbers/human traffickers and the police/feds investigating the shooting. 

They drive a bit, unsure of where to go and the car breaks down. After walking a few miles to the nearest town, they’re taken in by a loving if not quirky found family. After a bad trip, and much to Perla’s chagrin, Neal insists they leave. When she asks to go south, he says instead to go to his uncle’s cabin. Too bad it’s been torn down (or perhaps just fell down) years ago. With the bad guys closing in and tension building, Neal must decide if he’s going to be a hero, or if he’s going to completely check out. 

He does the latter. 

I’ll start by saying that the performances were solid. The script is a bit tepid, but the actors worked well with what they had. Figueroa is a beautiful and curvy woman and it was wonderful seeing that sort of representation on screen. This is kind of where the good representation stopped. I will always applaud anyone that thinks to add diversity to their stories, especially in main roles, but if you cast an Afro-Latina woman, your role has to be updated to accommodate. 

There’s a scene where Neal insists that he’s going to get supplies and Perla, sensing his distress, offers to go in his place. We find out mid-breakdown that his plan was actually to go and turn himself in, then he says the most nonsensical line of the whole film. Neal says that if Perla goes into the station she (as a sex worker) can just fellate an officer and she’s home free. Then he says it’s different for him. He doesn’t explain how, just leaves it there until the Afro Latina woman rightly tells him he’s full of crap and they will definitely kill her. To which he dismissively replies that it’s not his problem. This is of course right after screaming “I’m not a bad person, I’m not a criminal!!” in her face. I have never met a protagonist so unlikable. 

He clearly has insecurity about his manhood, but instead of doing something about it, he takes his frustrations all out on the woman who loves him. Which is a common trait in those types of men, but in the film Perla appears to be Neal’s whipping post. It’s the epitome of punching down and it’s not comfortable to watch at all.  Whenever she rightfully asks about what’s going on, he shuts her down to save his pride. Then he blames her for every bad decision that he’s made. Ultimately they both suffer, but there’s no resolve which makes the film that much more frustrating. 

Which is unfortunate because Spayer actually does a decent job of portraying Neal, a man standing at a midpoint where he can choose to go up or down. Sprayer portrays him in such a way that Neal thinks he’s choosing up when he’s really not. He’s so ruled by his emotions that he never stops to consider how his actions will affect anyone else. Perhaps Spayer portrays Neal too well, because that dude is awful. The other cast of eccentrics were great, particularly the friendly mechanic, West (West Barrington Artope) and the Motel Clerk (Anthony Zenhauser). They provided some much needed heart and levity to the film. 

I want to be able to recommend this film because I love indie film and I know a lot of work and heart went into this production. I just feel like the script was rushed causing the actors to portray cut-out characters. It also made it so the themes that it seemed the director wanted to tackle weren’t fleshed out in a satisfying way. 

Ultimately I think there are better offers, but I would like to see these actors in other roles in the future.