“Rub” is a darkly comic road trip into the psyche that can be filed under the heading “Film Festival Movie.”

It’s reasonably coherent and somewhat interesting, but not enough of either to warrant a theatrical release. Park this massage parlor shoot-out saga in film festivals — even though it’s not edgy or daft enough to qualify as a “midnight movie.” And let filmgoers get a taste of what indie cinema often is when it’s not all it might have been.

Veteran bit player Micah Spayer plays Neal, a put-upon cubicle drone and classic, stereotypically-sweaty loner-loser.

He may not be a bad guy. But when all we have to go by is his failed “Happy Endings” online dating attempts and straight-up Incel sexual role-play gaming in his untidy whiteys, we have a hunch.

He’s teased at work, but that teasing produces a suggestion and a business card from his colleague Trevor (PJ Landers). The Just Smile Spa is the place to go when you’re lonely, horny and have $80 to spare for a massage and a little handskie.

Everybody takes it on him or herself to have a laugh on balding, bespectacled Neal, from his boss to Trevor to the Eastern European Olga (Inna Yesilevskaya) who greets him at the “Just Smile” door.

But the Dominican masseuse Perla (Jennifer Figuereo) takes pride in her work, and Neal shows his appreciation.

That just leads to merciless taunting at the office, and when Neal lashes out, that becomes “his” HR problem. As he’s the sort of guy who gets threatened because all the cars BEHIND his ancient Dodge Omni are blowing their horns at the inattentive roid-rager blocking traffic, at least he’s used to it.

His run of bad luck extends to the massage parlor, where a second session with Perla is interrupted by an armed robbery. When she hides him in a closet to protect him, he is moved to commit the first noble act of his life. He jumps out to protect her, choke the menacing pistolero, allowing her to grab the guy’s gun and shoot their way out.

Perla kills two gunmen. So naturally, the cops see Neal on the CCTV footage as they sprint into the street barely clothed and escape. He’s the one wanted as they go on the lam, chased by strong-armed police and some psychotic “Man in Black” who’s probably got a grudge against the guy who foiled his gangs’/friends’/family’s attempted robbery.

For a road picture, “Rub” — a punny title — doesn’t go very far. Hey, you try to flee the city, county, state and/country in a 40 year-old Dodge Omni. You’d be the first ever to make a getaway in that rattletrap.

Writer-director Christopher Fox makes this journey about Neal’s coming out of his shell and falling for an illegal immigrant who is worthy of his trust. Sort of.

Their odyssey flirts with a sort of aimlessness but not pointlessness. Neal must be indulged, seduced and challenged to discover whether Perla’s shaving of his head and presence in his life has truly changed his fate. And luck.

Spayer is perfectly believable in the guise of Neal, and Figuereo has a natural ease on camera. Nobody here is obviously an amateur or out of her or his depth.

But Fox doesn’t find much that’s novel or particularly interesting on this journey — a sympathetic garage owner (Westley Barrington Artope), a party with hippies that might get out of hand, a plan that’s barely a plan and all.

This slow-moving picture finds a resolution, but not a satisfying or surprising conclusion.

Maybe there’s a moral to the story, and maybe it’s “No matter where you go, there you are.” If so, there’s nothing remotely deep about that, and not much that would hold anybody’s attention outside of a film festival “This shows promise” screening.

Show it at midnight and you’re just going to disappoint folks further. .

Rating: unrated, violence, sex, profanity

Cast: Micah Spayer, Jennifer Figuereo, PJ Landers and Westley Barrington Artope

Credits: Scripted and directed by Christopher Fox. An Entertainment Squad release.

Running time: 1:44