WHITE BOY RICK
R, 110 minutes. Through tonight only at Stonington. Still playing at Waterford, Westbrook, Lisbon. Even in the well-trod genre that is the 1980s drug movie, the true life story of teen drug kingpin Ricky Wershe Jr., aka White Boy Rick, stands out. The baby-faced baller moved serious weight in Detroit in the mid-’80s, and the legend surrounding him is larger than the real, tragic story. Director Yann Demange’s film “White Boy Rick” balances these details, both outlandish and intimate, carefully. For the film adaptation, Demange conducted a search for a non-professional actor to embody the young, streetwise Rick and discovered the remarkable 15-year-old Richie Merritt from Baltimore to star, his first acting role ever. Merritt is charming, authentic and incredibly watchable, but he gets a heavy-duty assist from his most frequent scene partner, Academy Award-winner Matthew McConaughey, in his full sleazebag mode as Rick Sr., a
shady gun dealer. Rick, a daring, tough, but ultimately sweet kid who boasts an entrepreneurial streak like his dad, insinuates himself with the baddest crews in town. He’s an ideal mark for a pair of FBI agents (Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane), who groom him as a criminal informant for cash. It’s never clear if he fully understands the possible outcomes of his snitching, just trying to stay one step ahead of the gangs and the feds. From the high life to life behind bars, this is ultimately a father-son story, and McConaughey transcends the wilder aspects of his character to deliver a stripped-down and touching performance of a man utterly devoted to his children. — Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
THE WIFE
PG-13, 100 minutes. Mystic Luxury Cinemas, Niantic, Madison Art Cinemas. Made by adults for adults, “The Wife” is an intimate drama that offers an inside look at a marriage and the dark bargains couples sometimes have to make with each other. Expertly pared by screenwriter Jane Anderson from Meg Wolitzer’s celebrated novel — and sensitively directed by Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge — “The Wife” features Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce, fine actors who can convey a lot without doing too much. This strong acting, especially by Close, helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely. “The Wife” is a revealing look into the 40-year relationship of Joan and Joe Castleman, played by Close and Pryce. When Joe wins the Nobel Prize for literature, the award exacerbates strains in the marriage and exposes arrangements that may have outlived their usefulness. But, as its title indicates, “The Wife” is not a portrait of a marriage so much as a compassionate portrait of a mid-20th century creative woman and the compromises she felt she had to make to survive. The film’s success is impressive because of two obstacles it had to overcome, starting with the absence of the witty, acerbic language Wolitzer created for Joan as the novel’s narrator. Also, because the book is something of an extended metaphor about the societal position of women, putting its story squarely in the real world — by having Joe win the Nobel instead of the novel’s fictitious “Helsinki Prize” — makes the movie’s underlining plot point more of a stretch than it otherwise would be. But when Close and her costars command the screen, we can forgive problems and simply enjoy the proceedings.. The plot reveals might not always be convincing, but the emotions certainly are. — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times