Year: 2018
Rated R
Rating: * * * Stars
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Richie Merritt, Jennifer Jason Leigh
"You're going to get in too deep and they're never gonna let you out". The ugly, gun-toting flick I'm about to review is palatable but it doesn't quite get deep enough. Did I mention that it's drug-fueled too?
Anyway, White Boy Rick is a non-fiction endeavor that allows Bruce Dern little screen time and portrays 80's Detroit as a gloom and doom vista view. With scenes that only rear themselves in the winter time, "White Boy" features Matthew McConaughey and newcomer Richie Merritt giving fantastic father and son performances. It also has McConaughey and Rory Cochrane reuniting in a pic after nearly 25 years (remember Dazed and Confused?)

White Boy Rick chronicles the three-year span of one Richard Wershe Jr. At the wide-eyed age of 14, Rick became the youngest FBI informant ever. Wershe eventually got caught for selling cocaine and was sentenced to life in prison. Rick gets shot, becomes a father, hustles like a seasoned veteran, and learns to cut crack all before the age of 17. Talk about an early dose of life experiences.
"White Boy" as harbored character study and choppily edited catalyst, cuts corners with Rick's drug dealing plight even though the main character is in almost every frame. Oh well. "White Boy's" director (Yann Demange) creates a movie that's darkly dense, rift with diverting sleaze, and rich in its sense of time and place. There's nastiness, atmospherics, and danger all around.

Written by Jesse Burleson
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