White Boy Rick Movie Review

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Run Time: 1h 56m

Rated: R

Release Date: September 14, 2018 (USA)

Director: Yann Demange

Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Jeff Robinov, John Lesher, Scott Franklin, Julie Yorn

Trailer:

Synopsis: Rick Wershe is a single father who’s struggling to raise two teenagers during the height of the crack epidemic in 1980s Detroit. Wershe sells guns illegally to make ends meet but soon attracts attention from the FBI. Federal agents convince his son, Rick Jr., to become an undercover drug informant in exchange for keeping his father out of prison. When young Rick gets in too deep, he finds himself seduced by the lure of easy money and becomes a drug dealer himself.

My Thoughts & Recommendation: I have mixed feelings about this movie. It was dark and the progression of the whole movie was a little slow, but at the same time it is a smaller, indie film in which that is normal. The whole story about how the feds got Rick Jr. (a.k.a. White Boy Rick) into the drug scene was – pardon my language – f***ed up. And the dad… boy is he something. Not necessarily bad as in abusive, though the daughter alludes to him beating his wife who left even before the movie started, but in the situation he puts his son in with his business of selling guns. We can tell Rick Sr.’s intentions are good, but the implementation of his good intentions gets his son caught up with gangs, then the feds, then drug dealers. Its sad to watch the slow downward spiral of Rick Jr.’s life because of things he’s forced to do. Now, I will agree nobody told him to sell drugs once he got out of being a confidential informant, but because of the feds, that’s all he really knows as a way to earn money in Detroit, Michigan. It also surprised me how stupid Rick Jr. and Sr. were when it came to his final deal with them. It really was a case of “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Overall, I was mildly entertained by the film, but would only recommend it to someone who truly likes indie films.

My Rating: 3/5

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