Film falls flat telling true story
WHITE BOY RICK
Grade: C-Theatres, showtimes, pages 32-33
White Boy Rick is based on a true story, which makes it feel churlish not to like it more; it’s like saying Richard Wershe’s life as the youngest FBI informant in history isn’t interesting enough.
But I’m going to blame Andy Weiss, and Noah and Logan Miller (white boys all) for a screenplay that fails to hook us with Rick’s story, and that relegates most of the kid’s black friends (he got the nickname for being the sole white guy among them) to little more than background characters.
First-time actor Richie Merritt was just 15 when he was cast in the role of Richard Wershe Jr., and he manages ably enough, although he is occasionally in the shadow of Matthew McConaughey, who plays his hungry, huckster dad.
All Wershe Sr. really wants is to open a video rental store, but before he can make that happen, the FBI, represented by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane, suitably dishevelled, threaten to bust the old man for trafficking. But they cut a deal with the kid: if he’ll do a little drug dealing in his Detroit neighbourhood and let them know where the product goes, they’ll leave his pop alone.
You just know this deal is going south faster than a flock of geese, but Rick Jr. is excited at the money he can make, and agrees to the plan.
Director Yann Demange made the excellent, under-appreciated 2014 film ’71, about
the Troubles in Northern Ireland, but he loses his way in the streets of Detroit.
Part of the problem is the short shrift given to various subplots, including Bel Powley as Rick’s drug-addicted sister; Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie as his grandparents; and a host of black actors – RJ Cyler, Jonathan Majors, hip hop artist YG, and more – in thinly written, almost interchangeable roles as pushers and users.
As the on-screen titles show the years passing, we sense that Rick is getting in deeper, but the writing never conveys any sense of urgency.
You can google Richard Wershe Jr. to learn the details of his life, some of which is explained in titles before the end credits roll. It’s a sad story of a young, naive and underprivileged boy used by the system for its own involuntary ends. But White Boy Rick can’t manage to capture the excitement of that life as it was unfurling, nor the sadness we feel looking back on it. The kid deserved better; he still does.