‘White Boy Rick’ is fun, but misses opportunity

‘White boy rick’

Grade: 3 stars (out of 4)

Rating: R for language, drug content, violence, sexual references, brief nudity

Running time: 1:50

By LINDSEY BAHR

Associated Press

There’s a where-are-they-now moment at the end of “White Boy Rick,” an astonishing true story about a teenager in 1980s Detroit who became an undercover FBI informant, that might have served the movie better had the audience been aware from the beginning.

This kid, Richard Wershe Jr., ended up being arrested and sentenced to life in prison for possessing 8 kilograms of cocaine under a controversial Michigan drug policy, the so-called 650-lifer law. He was only 17 – a minor – yet he has spent most of his life in prison. This isn’t the story that’s told in director Yann Demange’s film, but it is context that would have helped frame the whole endeavor and perhaps make us care a little more about Rick from the beginning.

As it is, this movie is all about how he ended up where he did. Rick, played by newcomer Richie Merritt, is the son of a smart, charismatic and down-on-his-luck dad-hustler, Richard Sr. (Matthew McConaughey, sporting a big mustache and long, combed-back hair), who’s trying to advance his family’s station in life by reselling modified AK-47s to Detroit drug lords. Rick’s mom left them, and his sister, Dawn (Bel Powley), is on the verge of becoming a full-blown junkie.

The film starts in 1984 when Rick is 14 and shows how this soft-spoken boy with a tough-guy demeanor gets so easily seduced by the glitz of the drug scene, the parties, the access, the girls and, of course, the money. It’s right in the thick of the 1980s war on drugs.

Two FBI agents (played by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane) pay Richard Sr. a visit one day, trying to get him to give some info about the people to whom he’s selling guns. He declines, but Rick Jr. jumps in to tell them a little. And in no time at all, he’s a full-on informant, playing a double game with some of the city’s most powerful dealers, including Lil’ Man (Jonathan Majors), and making money on his own.

There are some fun scenes in the film, especially at the beginning, as we are introduced to a Wershe family that includes grandma Verna (Piper Laurie) and grandpa Roman (Bruce Dern) next door. As in most Hollywood films about blue-collar people, the family is loud, brash and a little unwashed, but lovable nonetheless. (It’s not exactly a surprise that Darren Aronofsky is a producer. Aesthetically, “White Boy Rick” is a spiritual sister to “The Fighter.”)

Demange creates a real sense of place and time in “White Boy Rick,” from the homes and the cars to the clubs and the glorious neon Skate & Roll sign outside one of the key characters’ regular gathering spots. The snow even looks real (most of the time).

Merritt is an interesting find. As a first-time actor, he’s solid enough, although I’m not entirely sure this novelty adds anything particularly special to the movie, especially when McConaughey is next to him giving a whole performance. McConaughey is so good and emotionally affecting as Richard Sr., in both vulnerable and tough moments, that it might even catch you off guard.

The film overstays its welcome, especially in the slow-going third act, and fails to really develop some of the essential characters outside of the Wershe family (although there is a really wonderful scene-stealing child actor who comes along late in the game who brings the movie back to life for a bit).

Overall, it is a bewildering story of the callousness of the adults who helped encourage Rick to get into this position (the betrayals will make your blood boil) and an indictment of how U.S. laws often hurt people from the most vulnerable classes.