White Boy Rick (Review)
What White Boy Rick Lacks in Story it Makes Up for in Performances.
Earlier this year we had the remake of Superfly hit theaters which told the story of an incredibly smart, sophisticated and successful drug dealer. On the exact opposite end of the spectrum is White Boy Rick. While White Boy Rick might sound like a bumbling mess in that regards, the same goes for the quality of filmmaking for the film. In other words, White Boy Rick is one of the strangest and most incredible movies based on a true story that you can’t possibly believe.
White Boy Rick is based on the story of one of the youngest and most successful Detroit drug dealers who also happened to be an FBI informant. At the center of the film is Richie Merritt who plays young Rick, and I have to hand it to him because he does a spectacular job playing the idiot. Seriously though, Rick is a far cry from the suave and sophisticated drug dealers you might be used to on the big screen. In fact, he’s not even that cold-blooded. He’s the sort of drug dealer who buys a car, gets a “Snow Man” vanity license plate, and then wonders how he gets caught. That being said, I’m pretty surprised a the emotional depth that Merritt displayed in his first feature film. He’s rough around the edges, but it’s clear that he’s got potential. More importantly, though he manages to play the character Rick as a loveable idiot. He’s far from a criminal mastermind and a lot of his moves boggle the mind, but despite all this Merritt makes this character believable even when he’s doing stuff too stupid to believe. The thing is that he doesn’t quite measure up to the real powerhouse in White Boy Rick.
Matthew McConaughey has come so incredibly far as an actor to the point where he’s pretty legitimate. Seriously though, he’s come so far from his days of being known for “alright, alright, alright” and I honestly would be surprised if he doesn’t get some love for his performance when they start handing out awards later this year. He plays a half glass full kind of guy who tries desperately to blind himself to all the suffering that is going on not just in his family, but his city. Deep down he knows just how bad everything is but he doesn’t want to give up on his dreams and only slides deeper into his nightmare. McConaughey grabs onto the role and it fits him like a glove. While a lot of the other performances in White Boy Rick might not be Earth-shattering, McConaughey elevates the scenes he is in and becomes the glue that holds this film together. It might not be about him, and he doesn’t steal the scenes he’s in, but there’s something about his performance that is indispensable to this film.
White Boy Rick is as far from Scarface as you can possibly get, but director Yann Demange gets that it’s the same twisted vision of what the American dream is. Rick wants a better life and seeks out to get just that, the loveable idiot though greatly overestimates his abilities and intelligence and gets in over his head over and over again, leaving him trapped in the life he’s so desperate to escape from. Because of that Demange chooses to take a claustrophobic approach to the film. The shots are typically tight or use elements to frame the edges of the shot causing it to feel like everything is not only closing in on the character but on the audience as well. It’s a brilliant way to get get the audience to feel the anxiety the characters are experiencing, and even get them to forgive some of the incredibly stupid moves that young Rick makes.
The lack of intelligence when it comes to the protagonist though doesn’t take away from White Boy Rick’s heart. He’s a character that has not had an easy life and it continues to get harder and harder for him. In that regards it’s easy to understand how he could snowball down this slippery slope that he FBI sets him on as an informant. That means that White Boy Rick is far from easy to watch at times, especially when it comes to the story surrounding his older sister (played by Bel Powley) who becomes addicted to the very stuff Rick is selling. Then again, it’s easy to see that this film is rooting for Rick, even if a lot of the problems in his life are very much his responsibility. Still, that doesn’t discount the bad hand he’s dealt and that turmoil over how to take Rick is so well done that it takes this film to a new level.
A lot of the elements come together for White Boy Rick, but the story itself feels unfinished. A lot of the movie focuses on his family and the relationship between Rick and his father. Because of that, it feels almost like it’s missing a lot of the juicier parts that could have been. When I heard about this film I wanted to see how this kid built his empire. The blood, sweat, and stupidity that went into becoming a teenage drug kingpin. The film instead seems to gloss over that and stick to a few key moments in his life. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the story that was told, but I feel like there was something missing the entire time. Almost as though White Boy Rick is a little too one-sided. It’s not a terrible movie, but the movie is far from a trou de force. The one thing that White Boy Rick does get right though is the performances, especially when it comes to McConaughey, who makes the entire film worth the price of admission.
