White Boy Rick

I like White boy rick. The casting was done correctly. Rick was believable as a teenager gangster who gets caught up in the drug business. I believe the chemistry between the Father and the son. The story progress well adding a punch of drama one after the other until we get the conclusion of his life.

I like the set design a lot. The music, the city, the clothes haircut and all that. Transported me to a time I did get to experience.

I recommend this movie to my family and friends.

-B

White Boy Rick: This is a true story based in the 80's about a 15-year-old, Rick Wershe Jr, who worked as an undercover FBI informant. I hadn't read up on this story, because I wanted to watch the movie not knowing any details. I was pleasantly surprised. This movie was not what I was expecting. I went in thinking it would be a Pablo Escobar kinda movie, but it was not. It's about a teenager trying to figure out how to survive living in a low income part of Detroit. It was heart wrenching, and even had some very funny parts. It also had some parts that made you shake your head and say, "what is he thinking?" In my opinion, it's definitely worth the watch. Also, I was completely blown away by Richie Merritt's performance. Especially since this was the first time he's acted, ever.

The story of Richard Wershe Jr., a 16-year-old who became an FBI informant, and one of Detroit's biggest drug dealers.

It's a shame that this film does not have the right pace and storyline, turning out to be a missing shot (pun intended).

The performances are generally good (especially by Matthew McConaughey), although the characters navigate in a narrative that tries to go from action to drama, without making a transition that makes sense.

I'm a fan of the duo director / cinematographer (they made some eps of Top Boy), so I don't find the tone and atmosphere strange.

The problem is the lack of details and interesting scenes, which make this film really easy to forget.

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.

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.