White Boy Rick Is A Grim, Thought-provoking, and Entertaining Crime Story That's Solidly Told And Brilliantly Acted

     

      When it comes to Hollywood bringing real life stories to the big screen, one of the most appealing kind that they greenlight outside of biographical dramas or inspirational sports stories, are those that deal with crime. The crime drama is one that has a built in audience, which essentially makes it a safe bet for Hollywood to continue producing true to life stories revolving around that genre. In the case of White Boy Rick, the film meets both the crime and biographical genres halfway with a story, that both holds as well as maintain the audiences interest. Powered by strong performances from its main cast as well as being a compelling enough crime story, White Boy Rick delivers a solid punch in regards to providing audiences with a true story that's powerful, hard-hitting, and carries with it important themes and lessons regarding growing up.

      Based on a true story, the plot for White Boy Rick takes place in the 1980's with a struggling single father (Played terrifically by Matthew McConaughey), who turned to a life of crime in order to support his family. When faced with federal charges, he agrees to allow the FBI to use his 15-year-old son Rick (Played by Richie Merritt) as a drug informant in exchange for leniency. Rick, however, becomes enamored with the criminal lifestyle that ends up evolving him into a drug kingpin. White Boy Rick is a film that aims to shock, entertain, and inform audiences about a particular time during the era regarding the war on drugs, that was strange yet compelling. The films writing and directing are both reasonably solid with the cast being the heart of the film, as well as the pulse behind making the story as effective as it ultimately turns out to be. Although the film that emerged from its production is a reasonably decent one, it has aspects which keep it from being a great film such as uneven pacing, along with certain parts of the story not being thoroughly developed or explored. The films flaws however, don't take away from the overall enjoyment and impact that White Boy Rick leaves on it's audience as the story remains one that draws them in, while allowing them to be shocked by the revelations presented throughout the story.

      One of the key components that makes White Boy Rick so effective in terms of being entertaining is the strong performances from its main cast with the clear top notch performance coming from Matthew McConaughey as Rick's father Richard Wershe Sr. McConaughey delivers a fantastic performance as a flawed and imperfect father, who side hustles as a gun dealer along with selling unregistered AK-47's on the side. While doing so he reluctantly watches his son go down a life of crime while being used by the FBI to catch known drug dealers. McConaughey's performance is one that is both scene-stealing and impactful as a father whose well-aware of his shortcomings in terms of raising his kids, yet chooses to still be their dad regardless of how dysfunctional the family dynamic appears. He showcases the appropriate emotion that's required when the story takes dramatic turns in regards to Rick's lifestyle as drug kingpin/FBI informant. Whereas McConaughey delivers the strongest performance of the film, it is Richie Merritt who delivers the more impressive and complexed performance out of the two as McConaughey's 15-year old son Rick. Merritt succeeds in making his character both engaging and sympathetic as he finds himself being stuck between being a hustler, whose building a name for himself as well as being aggressively pushed by the FBI in becoming an informant for them. Merritt plays his role convincingly well while managing to convey all the right emotions the role requires. He effectively shows the conflict his character has in regards to being drawn into the world of drug dealing, while struggling to maintain relationships with both his father as well as his troubled sister. Bel Powley does well playing Rick's sister Dawn Weshe with her characters animosity towards her father, along with her desire to remain at distance from her family being understandable for the audience. She also manages to generate empathy for her character when the audience see's the issues she faces in regards to drug addiction due to her troubled family circle (Most notably the relationship between her and her father as evidenced by the films early scenes). Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Tyree Henry and Rory Cochrane all deliver solid performances as dedicated yet questionable FBI agents with Leigh playing FBI agent Alex Snyder, Henry playing Detroit PD Vice Detective Roach Jackson, and Cochrane as FBI agent Frank Byrd. Their characters are effective in regards to showing the challenge as well as the brick wall that Rick faces in regards to both protecting his family, along with being forced to continue his descent into the world of drug dealing in order to help the FBI in making their desired arrests. Other noteworthy performances are RJ Cyler as Boo Curry, Jonathan Majors as Lil Man Curry, Nickoli Link as Lil Tic, Taylour Page as Boo's wife and lover of Rick Cathy Volsan-Curry, Bruce Dern as Rick's Grandpa Ray Weshe and Piper Laurie as Grandma Verba Wershe. The cast for White Boy Rick goes a long way in regards to making the film being as suspenseful, engaging, and effective as it ultimately turns out to be. Both Merritt and McConaughey's performances serve as being the strongest ones in the film with both actors not only stealing the show, but managing to maintain the audiences interest along with working off each other effectively. The audience truly does get a sense of their characters struggle to remain as a family despite Rick's ambitions to pursue drug dealing along with the FBI pressuring him to do so, while threatening his father with jail time for selling unregistered arms to his customers. Bel Powley's performance helps to round out the three main trio of actors with Powley's character being most effective in showing her characters troubles regarding drug addiction. Her most powerful scenes are those in which her addiction takes over with her refusing the help of her father when both him and Rick intervene to help her. The audience gets a legitimate feel that the three are playing off a troubled family dynamic, that fights to remain unified throughout​ their hardships. White Boy Rick as a film is further proof that a strong cast of talented actors can go a long way in terms of bringing a story as interesting as this one to the big screen, and make it both suspenseful and dramatic. It certainly wouldn't have worked as well as it does without its main stars breathing life into their roles.

      The films directing by Yann Demange is serviceable in terms of putting the audience in the films time period during the height of the 1980's drug epidemic. Though Demange's work is nothing groundbreaking to write home about, he succeeds in generating a tense atmosphere for the story, that instantly draws the audience into the film and doesn't let go of them until the very end. Demange makes the story a compelling yet dramatic and moving experience for the main characters when the story shifts from the subplot of drug dealing to a personal family drama whether its between Rick, his father or sister. The film is well shot with cinematography that helps transport the audience into the 1980's setting with both the colors and styles of that era being beautifully captured. It's also accompanied by solid set and costume design, that reinforces the notion that the audience is living in the 1980's era with these characters along with impressive makeup design adding to the films realism. The soundtrack also remains one of the films main highlights as it blends with both the setting and culture behind the story. With the films camera work, Demange succeeds in giving the film a colorful yet gritty and bleak atmosphere, which helps to reveal the world that its characters live in that's further emphasized by saturated lightning to show both the dirtiness and poor quality of the environment, that the characters live around. Despite the films visual elements all blending together effectively in regards to giving the audience the experience of being with the main characters during the films time period, the editing comes across as being a mixed bag with the film feeling that it's a bit short for it's 111 minute running time given the scope of the story. While the pacing never makes the film feel slow nor boring, there's certain parts of the story that feel either skipped over or rushed with more time that could've been given to exploring certain characters or subplots. Despite this issue, Yann Demange's work on the film proves to be relatively solid as he's shown to be able to put together a story thats faithful to the real life events and characters that inspired it, while being impactful with the films main bullet points and overall message.

      The films screenplay by Andy Weiss, Logan and Noah Miller for the most part is well-structured and focuses on Rick's journey from being a normal 15-year old in a troubled household to ending up as a central figure during the peak of the crack epidemic. The script places heavy emphasis on Police corruption and drug dealing with both ultimately being shown to ruin the lives of those affected by it with Rick being the primary example in that regard. The script explores the climate of 1980's Detroit with the inaffectiveness of the Just Say No campaign against drugs being shown, as well as the corruption of both FBI and Detroit Police detectives being put on full display. In addition to showing these revelations with the exploration of Rick's story, the film also plays itself as being a personal family drama with showing the conflict with Rick, his father, and sister as they try to maintain their unity despite their glaring household troubles. Rick's family is shown to essentially be living in poverty with little options available for them to escape the elements surrounding them (Hence Rick's plea and ultimate convincing of his father to allow him to continue selling drugs so they can move out of their current neighborhood). Themes regarding reconciliation and hope are also emphasized in the film with Rick's father refusing to give up on helping his son escape his lifestyle, while later making peace with his daughter once she recovers from her own addiction. Themes pertaining to young teen issues are also at play here with Rick experiencing unwanted teen pregnancy and early parenthood with a girl he used to crush on later becoming the mother of his child. The script aims to include themes that explore all of these different subplots of events, that happened in Rick's life with them succeeding for the most part in amplifying the sheer power and emotion of the story. Where the script struggles ultimately are the areas where the film feels like it speeds through the timeline of Rick's life as being a drug dealer with certain plot setups and scenarios being treated as afterthoughts. Whereas Rick and his family are well-established by the screenwriting, the characters of Boo Curry and his gang often feel like they're not as well explored and given light exploration. The subplot between Rick and his girlfriend turned mother of his child, is effective though given light treatment as well along with the subplot between him sleeping with curry's wife after her husband is jailed for attempting to murder Rick through the use of one of his associates. It's also not well-shown nor explained on why and when Boo began to suspect Rick was an informant for the FBI nor the moment he decided to have him assassinated. The first half of the film is set up much better and flows more consistently with its second half that feels a bit uneven and rushed despite the end result as a whole being a reasonably satisfying effort.

      In the end, White Boy Rick is a good movie but its not the great film nor classic that it could've been had more effort went into strengthening, as well as expanding its already suspenseful and engaging story. What makes it a solid effort is the clear dedication behind putting its story on the big screen by its filmmakers with its main cast giving the film the kind of performances required to make the story be an effective and eye-opening one for its audience. The film is well-shot and has both strong production values and a noteworthy soundtrack to add to its entertainment value with an end message, that serves as a reflection on an era where the drug epidemic was at its prime as well as the realization that the justice system is a fractured one given how much time Rick ultimately served in jail compared to the ones he helped the FBI bust. White Boy Rick serves as being both an affecting and engrossing drama about a young teenager trying to adapt to the environment that surrounds his neighborhood, while trying to be there for his family. The film shows the imperfections of both Rick's character and his father, while also serving as a condemnation of the FBI for their mistreatment of Rick's character and ultimate betrayal by not trying to reduce his sentence of serving time in jail. It serves as a story that will provoke many different forms of emotion from its audience, while being somewhat satisfied in the end that Rick's character gets some form of justice. The film did not win any oscars nor wasn't necessarily deserving of any (Though Matthew McConaughey's performance was certainly strong enough to warrant a nomination), but the overall execution provides a strong enough foundation to recommend to those who share a fascination for true crime stories or complexed biographical dramas. On both counts, White Boy Rick delivers in the entertainment department while posing some necessary questions regarding the justice system and troubled youth upbringings.

Final Verdict: For Matthew McConaughey fans as well as fans of both biographical and crime dramas, White Boy Rick will entertain, surprise, and suffice their cravings despite having some glaring flaws.