Undercover: une histoire vraie

Yes, if you expect this to be a Hollywood "gangster movie" with distinctly extreme highs and lows in the plot, you'll be extremely disappointed....but if you remember that White Boy Rick is just a human being, and this is a film about human beings struggling, you'll appreciate this film.

I was expecting a movie that showed the rise (and fall) of the youngest gangster in America, but I ended up getting a movie with an identity crisis. It didn't know if it wanted to be a crime drama or a family drama. Too many details were skipped or fast forwarded, like Rick's rise to power in the second half of the movie. Then it all comes down crashing so fast, I felt like they ran out of time trying to tell the story. The acting was average, I didn't see any particular standout performances, and it was hard to feel empathy for any character. Overall, an okay movie, worth streaming maybe somewhere down the road.

I enjoyed most of this film. There were a few slow parts and its just as much a family drama as it is a crime/action flick. I thought newcomer Richie Merritt did a good job. He is likable and I found my self rooting for him throughout the movie. The setting of the film is early to mid 80's Detroit when factories are closing and the city is starting to spiral downward. This is a bit depressing but the city itself is kind of a character in the movie because of this. You understand why young men turn to a life of crime when there are no other ways to make a living. White Boy Rick was more a victim of his surroundings and environment than anything else. I can't recommend that you sprain an ankle running out to see WBR but it is worth seeing.

Wasn't really looking forward to seeing this film at first. I was intrigued to find from the very beginning the exposition and plot brought my attention straight to the screen. From beginning to end I love the one liners and the party scene and the whole family aspect and growth. Hated the ending, but it was the ending I could expect watching white boy rick from beginning to end.

Rick Wershe Jr's claim to fame, or infamy if you prefer, was that at fourteen he was the youngest ever FBI informant before becoming a kingpin drug dealer at sixteen. Yann Demange's (he made "'71"), film "White Boy Rick" is a 'Serpico'-like account of how Rick got into this and it makes for surprisingly sobering viewing. It didn't help that his dad, (an absolutely terrific Matthew McConaughey), was a low-life gun dealer and his sister, (Bel Powley, brilliant), a junkie. You might say that with a family like this, a life of crime was inevitable.

It's a tragic story that Demange never exploits and if it isn't quite in the same class as "'71" it may be because this is material we've seen too often in the past. In the title role newcomer Richie Merritt is excellent and the film looks terrific, (Tat Radcliffe was the cinematographer), moving nicely from Hollywood crime movie gloss to documentary realism often in the same scene. In the end, this is a grim, downbeat little movie but it's hard-to-believe true story is one worth telling and Demange tells it very well indeed.