White Boy Rick Review

WHITE BOY RICK

Film Review by FIORE

WHITE BOY RICK is one of the worst films I’ve seen this year.  Hyped as one of the year’s best, and spreading accolades for its stars, the movie offers no entertaining nor socially redeeming value.  It is a film that seems to come directly out of the manifesto for Black Lives Matter.  Poor blacks are forced into a world of crime, white folks are better served if they live like blacks, and law enforcement officers are all devious villains not to be trusted.  

Despite PR statements to the contrary, the acting is sub-par; the script is horrendous, offering a platterful of victimhood and stupidity; the cinematography is dark and washed out; and the music score is generically tepid.  It seems the only reason this film was made, was to provide star Matthew McConaughey with a chance for gold at year’s end.  If he wins, it will demonstrate how insipid the Academy has become.  He acted better in REIGN OF FIRE.

McConaughey plays Richard Wershe, Sr.  He is a man who believes in the American Dream and the concepts that make this country great.  Yet, his beliefs do not provide him success nor a satisfactory life.  This theme serves as a backhanded slap at all who hold similar beliefs or wish to make America great again.  

Richie Meritt plays his son Rick.  Rick believes in his father and is loyal to him, but that loyalty to the family is rewarded with severe punishment.  This allows the film to denigrate the American Dream and the concept of family.   Rick spends his time with the black drug gangs of south Detroit and comes to believe their lifestyle is the only way to save his father and sister from the decrepit life they lead.  Meritt’s performance is stiff and unconvincing.  He brings no life to the character.

Director Yann Demange tossed in a few veteran actors to help the story.  They include:  Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie as Rick’s grandpa and grandma; Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rory Cochrane as FBI agents; and Eddie Marsan as a Florida based drug dealer.  As these roles are mere cameos, they are insufficient to pull WHITE BOY RICK out of the dregs of thespian despair.

Chris Wyatt cuts the film in a slipshod manner.  His pacing is haphazard, making a one hour and 45 minutes film seem three weeks long.   For example: a shift in scenes from the slums of Detroit to the glamor of Las Vegas is so choppy, the story line is destroyed, and it takes several moments to regain the narrative.

Tat Radcliffe shoots WHITE BOY RICK dark and grainy.  It is a period film, taking place in the mid to late 1980’s, but the movie looks like films did when the stock they used was past its good by date.  

WHITE BOY RICK attempts to make media stars out of a group of people who consistently display a lack of intelligence and common sense.  Like too many TV shows, WHITE BOY RICK endeavors to make heroes out of folks who are not heroic.   It elevates the ghetto culture into one of nobility, paints law enforcement as oppressors and expects viewers to believe Rick suffered unjustly because running dope and guns are non-violent crimes. 

Screenwriters Andy Weiss, Logan and Noah Miller attempt to elicit viewer empathy for the Wershe family, but their endeavors are lame.  Instead, they create characters none but the feeble-minded could find engaging.  The concept of law enforcement entities being subversive to the poor and minorities has been done effectively in films before, but in WHITE BOY RICK, the theme is lost because the characters are developed in an unendearing fashion.   

WHITE BOY RICK is boring.  It has characters no one can identify with, and a theme no one will accept as viable.  The question “What was the point of making this movie?” entered my mind as soon as the end credits began to roll.  I could offer no reasonable response.  And therein lies the enigma, for there is none.