“White Boy Rick”– Movie Review

This week, I attended a special screening of the new crime-drama, “White Boy Rick”, starring Matthew McConaughey, Bel Powley and Jennifer Jason Leigh.   

Synopsis

When a teenager turns drug dealer after serving as an FBI informant, will the FBI help to get him out of prison when he’s given a life sentence for dealing?

Story

In Detroit of the 1980’s, Rick Sr. (McConaughey) big has dreams.  Abandoned by his wife, he hopes to elevate his family – son Rick Jr. (Richie Merritt) and daughter Dawn (Bel Powley), both teenagers.  He wants to open a video store but needs a little seed money. That’s where his side-gig comes in: Rick Sr. sells guns. Problems arise with law enforcement as Rick Sr. doesn’t discriminate when it comes to his customers – he’ll sell to anyone who can pay, regardless of what side of the law they’re on.  Additionally, he sells aftermarket add-ons (silencers) he manufactures himself.

Looking to expand this business, Rick Sr. enlists the aid of Rick Jr. to sell the guns; unfortunately, he can’t have his daughter Dawn do much because she’s preoccupied with her drug addiction.  Rick Jr. winds up selling some rifles and accessories to a local gang whose leader takes a liking to him; dubbing him White Boy Rick, they become extremely friendly. Around this time a team of FBI agents led by Agent Snyder (Jennifer Jason Leigh) investigates Rick Sr.’s arms dealing; in order to keep his father out of trouble, Rick Jr. becomes an FBI informant, updating Agent Snyder on any street action.

Things take a wrong turn when members of the gang get arrested and wind up in prison.  The leaders of the gang suspect a member of their crew might be a rat.  Since Rick Jr. is the most likely choice, a member of the gang must take him out. Although Rick Jr. is shot, he manages to survive his wounds but retires from both selling guns and being an FBI informant.  With the family still strapped for cash, he works for a connection of his by selling crack. But when he’s arrested for selling drugs and given a prison term of life without parole, can his former cohorts at the FBI come to his rescue?    

Review

Although “White Boy Rick” is a fascinating story with great performances (especially by McConaughey), it  is never particularly compelling – it never truly draws in the viewer emotionally.  In part, at least, this may be attributed to the characters are never really seen as being especially sympathetic. We are given to understand that the family is not financially well-off and that this results in their making some bad decisions in order to improve their situation.  While that may be true, the net result is that these are people who engaged in illegal acts willfully, regardless of the reasons (or excuses, if you prefer).

The protagonists of this story are supposed to be Rick Jr. and Rick Sr., but mostly Rick Jr. since he is a teenager and the main focus.  In reality, though, we often find ourselves rooting for the FBI since they are the ones who are seen actively trying to rid the Detroit streets of crime.  It’s incredibly difficult to feel sorry for Rick and his family when we know they are the ones responsible for being in the position in which they find themselves – they are in no way someone else’s victim.  They’re miserable because they chose to live a life that led them to be that way.

If anyone is a victim in this story, it is the people whose lives they ruined in dealing guns and drugs as they wound up getting individuals either imprisoned or killed.  In some regards, the story of White Boy Rick is similar to that of boxer Jake LaMotta from “Raging Bull” – both are unsympathetic characters who only have themselves to blame for turning their life into a catastrophe.  The only difference is that LaMotta actually attained some professional success in life, unlike Rick. But the comparison ends there because “White Boy Rick” is not in the same league as “Raging Bull”.