White Boy Rick Review: Little Substance For Intriguing True Story

R:  For language throughout, drug content, violence, some sexual references, and brief nudity

Sony, Columbia Pictures, Studio 8

1 Hr and 56 Minutes

Dir:  Yann Demange | Writers: Andy Weiss, Logan Miller, Noah Miller

Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Bel Powley, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Tyree Henry, Rory Cochrane, RJ Cyler, Jonathan Majors, Eddie Marsan, Bruce Dern, Piper Laurie

This is the story of teenager Richard Wershe Jr., who became an undercover informant for the FBI during the 1980s and was ultimately arrested for drug-trafficking and sentenced to life in prison.

THE GOOD

Despite looking like the villain from the last “Despicable Me” movie, McConaughey is… well… McConaughey. He’s the best damn performer in the movie. You sympathize with him for having to keep his entire family afloat as a single dad with two dumbass brats for children. His occupation may not be the best, but his heart is in the right place. This man has reinvented himself and has been on a streak of great charismatic performances. Even if the film overall isn’t that great, McConaughey’s energy carries it.

The cinematography by Tat Radcliffe is incredible where the film has an overall blue color scheme and depicts the hazy atmosphere of Detroit.

THE BAD

For a biopic centered around the world’s youngest Kingpin, “White Boy Rick” plays it incredibly safe. While I do respect that, it doesn’t contain anything of substance narrative-wise. I’m not saying it should’ve gone full “Wolf of Wall Street”, but it needed to be more engaging with its outrageous premise. The film is very repetitious in its narrative structure. If Ricky isn’t going through some family shit, he’s with the police being an informant. If he’s not with the police, he’s hanging out with the pushers who mostly spend their time dancing in clubs. So yeah, there are excessive scenes of Ricky dancing in the club that all have the same neon aesthetic. There’s a time jump from 1984 to 1987 where he still looks the same and even does the same routine.  This cycle goes on for a while where the family drama works the most.

When the story is focused on Ricky Sr. and Ricky Jr. you get a sense of emotional value because their scenes together are strong. When it’s not on them, the story delves itself into familiar territory throughout. If not that, it is choppily edited. Scenes don’t fully play out fluently. There are humorous moments here and there, but they fall flat because of the editing. So, when sequences of humor play out, they aren’t executed well.

For a first time performer, Richie Merritt is overall okay in the titular role. His performance works mostly due to the setting the story takes place in. The setting adds authenticity to his performance and the scenes he shares with McConaughey are the core strength of the film. But, when he’s around anyone else… ehhh...  it’s not that good. I know it’s his first movie, but this kid can’t physically emote too well. There’s a moment where he’s supposed to be in a state of sadness and grief and when you get a close up on him for a reaction, he has a blank stare with a lil grin. It doesn’t help that White Boy Rick himself is not interesting enough as a character. He’s pretty plain and generic and the movie takes a toll for it, for it is kind of the same as well.

LAST STATEMENT

Generic with all of the tropes of a kingpin biopic, “White Boy Rick” offers only another entry in the list of great performances by Matthew McConaughey in another film he’s too good for.

Rating: 2.5/5 | 56%

Super Scene: Ricky Sr. takes care of Dawn.