“White Boy Rick” tells the fascinating true story of a teenage FBI informant and drug kingpin as he deals with the struggles of living in poverty.
The plot takes place over the course of a few years, and tracks Rick as he transforms from a 14-year-old dropout helping his dad sell guns, to a 17-year-old drug mogul with enough money to provide for his family. Along the way, the movie shows how the FBI encouraged Rick to start buying and selling drugs in an effort to set him up as an informant in the Detroit drug scene. The film also shows Rick’s sister’s decline into addiction, and her subsequent rise back into sobriety.
Matthew McConaughey did an excellent job as Rick’s father and had a few opportunities to show off his talent through some particularly emotional scenes. I really felt his character’s pain and shame.
McConaughey had the most tragic role to play, and his acting helped me to understand the subtle depths of that tragedy. By the end of the film, Rick’s dad had completely let him down in just about every way. He always insisted that Rick could do anything he wanted, and he stood idly by as his son got involved in something that almost got him killed. He utterly failed as a father, and his desperation shone through McConaughey’s performance.
I was also impressed by Richie Merritt, the 17-year-old first-time actor who starred as Rick. He didn’t quite have the same emotional depth as McConaughey or the other more seasoned actors that surrounded him, but his blasé attitude somehow managed to contribute to his character. Merritt was perfect for the role.
Cinematically, I would hesitate to call the film beautiful. But that’s okay, because beauty isn’t what director Yann Demange was going for. The visual style is one designed to convey realism and an environment where murder and theft is the norm. The film’s visuals go a long way toward creating an environment in which it might be understandable for a teenager to start selling hard narcotics, and in which his father thinks that might be an alright idea.
My only real complaint with the movie is that it wasn’t as tight as it could have been. The plot seemed ever so slightly stretched, and maybe a little disorganized. In order to accurately portray some of the more important events that actually happened, the movie adds one or two things that detracted from the narrative as a whole.
I thought that the one-hour, 56-minute runtime should have been condensed a little bit. However, considering the filmmakers were juggling historical accuracy as well as dramatic plot, this is a minor complaint.
Overall, I found “White Boy Rick” to be an interesting and emotionally engaging film. I was very impressed by Merritt’s acting debut, and by the subtlety McConaughey brought to his character. The runtime could’ve been a bit shorter, and a few plot points could’ve been trimmed away to make the film neater, but otherwise I would definitely recommend this film.

Keagan Miller in a psychology junior and life & arts reporter for The Battalion.