White Boy Rick review: Based on a true story, White Boy Rick sees Matthew McConaughey add another dynamite performance to his resume, albeit in more of a supporting role. Here, he plays Richard Wershe Sr, who we meet hustling guns at a local fair – legitimately, of course. He’s with his son, a stand-out, the ‘white boy’ Rick of the title – Richie Merritt in a stand-out performance – a 15-year-old who appears to be learning from the ropes from his father first hand.
Image credit: Courtesy of TIFF
It’s Detriot, 1984, the city not in the best of states. The streets are over-ridden with drugs, guns and gangs, and the poverty line a massive issue for many of its residents. Rick Sr. is struggling to make ends meet but is said to be putting money away to open his own video store in town day, but he has a junkie daughter (Bel Powley) and intrusive parents nearby (Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie) to deal with while still trying to keep the money coming in. For now, he’s continuing to run guns, picking them up for bargain bucket prices at gun fairs, and then selling them on to whoever is willing to purchase them. One deal, which involves Rick Jr. selling a modified silencer for a machine gun – the add-on that his father compares to being offered fries with a burger at McDonald’s – leads the FBI to the pair, agents played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory McCrane turning the screws on Rick Sr. about his day to day operation.
An opportunity arises where Rick Sr. has the chance to help his father out – by running drug deals undercover to expose local gangs. It is this one event that ball rolling on an astounding story that will dictate the path of everyone’s lives involved.
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White Boy Rick is the second movie from French-born director Yann Demange, who impressed with his last effort, the Northern Ireland-set ’71. He stays in period mode with a crime drama that has all of the elements to make it stand out as truly fantastic, and for the large part, it is. Paced excellently, shot with visual flair and featuring a variety of superb performances. Merritt shines above the rest, but a departure for McConaughey in a less sympathetic role is welcomed. Bel Powley shines as the drug-ridden older sister, while Leigh and Cochrane are wonderfully shady as the dappled feds.
To get the most from the film, you must go in knowing as little as possible. Some of the marketing material spoils the entire movie – as the unbelievable true story behind the movie is the thing that probably sells it. I’m not sure that I would have had such an involvement in the narrative had I had knowledge of the outcome going in.
That said, McConaughey and co. are worth the price of admission alone, and Demange’s sophomore effort is up there as one of the better crime movies we’ve seen this year.
Definitely recommended.
White Boy Rick review by Paul Heath, September 2018.
White Boy Rick was reviewed at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Click here for all of our coverage.
