‘White Boy Rick’ is a seemingly emotionless slog and a story tough to stay interested in

By JASON GUYER
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Detroit circa early to mid 1980s, a city in the midst of a crack epidemic in a country in a war on drugs. The setting of the true story of Rick Wershe Jr. or as he is more commonly known “White Boy Rick,” a street moniker that also serves as the title of the film in this week’s review.

“White Boy Rick” tells the story of the longest serving juvenile drug offender in the history of Michigan. Rick Wershe Jr.’s story starts with the story of his father, Rick Wershe. As a single father who’s struggling to raise two teenagers during the height of the crack epidemic in 1980s Detroit, Rick Wershe sells guns to get by. When federal agents come after Rick Wershe with threats of prison, they eventually convince Rick Wershe Jr. to be an informant in exchange for keeping his father out of prison. At 14, Rick Wershe Jr. starts to sell drugs as the behest of the FBI.

When the drug dealer Rick Wershe Jr. buys from becomes suspicious of White Boy Rick, the dealer has the then 17-year-old shot, after which the FBI arrest all the people Rick Wershe Jr. had been informing on, including high-ranking officials, police officers, and even family to the the mayor of Detroit. Seduced by the lure of easy money dealing drugs all those years for the FBI and after the FBI no longer needs him, White Boy Rick becomes a drug dealer all on his own, a decision that led him to be busted with 650 grams of cocaine.

Back then Michigan had a law that mandated life without parole for anyone convicted of possessing more than 650 grams of cocaine, all leading to Rich Wershe Jr. or White Boy Rick becoming the longest serving juvenile drug offender in the history of Michigan. As with all “true” story films, the bulk of the story is real, but films always take liberties for different reasons.

In “White Boy Rick” the elder Rick Wershe is played by Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey is good in “White Boy Rick,” but McConaughey is well along in his career, so Matthew McConaughey has a Matthew McConaughey problem.

Early in his career McConaughey was typecast as the stoner surfer dude character type. Everyone knows his most famous surfer dude quote, “alright alright alright,”an unscripted line from “Dazed and Confused,” easily his most iconic line, but one that dogged his career for many years. Eventually McConaughey busted out by doing or trying more challenging roles. Sometimes in a more method acting fashion; think more Christian Bale-style.

Now, McConaughey should be careful, as it seems he is headed into the same predicament. In films like “Gold,” and “Dallas Buyers Club” the characters are markedly different in many ways, but the personalities of McConaughey’s characters have similar vibes in all three films.

However, if your going to see “White Boy Rick,” it is because of McConaughey. The more he piles onto this character type, the more he may be typecast into that character type, as he was early in his career.

Rick Wershe Jr. is played by Richie Merritt and “White Boy Rick” is his only acting credit. Since, it is his only acting credit you have to rate his performance as such. Merritt does well and fits the character type. Even though his demeanor is that of a certain archetype of juvenile criminal, the often stoic character feels out place both at home and as a drug dealer. That really may be a function of the age of Rick Wershe Jr. throughout the whole experience. The film version in “White Boy Rick” plays as a teenager feeling his way through situations and groping to find a way out of an underprivileged life while never understanding the consequences.

For a first role, Merritt does a great job in the film, the film just does not do a great job for him. The story of Rick Wershe Jr., of White Boy Rick should be a more interesting one. I mean, it’s a story of a 14-year-old brought in as an FBI informant, who deals drugs for the government, gets shot for the government, and then is left in the wind, who then does only what the FBI trained him to do: to survive.

That story should be an interesting story. In “White Boy Rick” it is not. Truthfully, it is one of the most interestingly boring films ever made. The film creates this endlessly hopeless atmosphere where everything that Rick Wershe Jr. goes through is normalized. Every decision Rick Wershe Jr. makes seems inevitable and even bland, where the character feels like a kid solemnly kicking a can down the street who only makes decisions when he happens to look up from doing so.

Kick, Kick

(Look up)

Guess I will be an informant today.

Kick, Kick

(Look up)

Guess I’ll be a drug dealer today.

The film is a seemingly emotionless slog and a story tough to stay interested in, and this may not be the film’s fault.

The story of Rick Wershe Jr. is only made uncommon and interesting by the ending: his becoming the longest-serving juvenile drug offender in the history of Michigan. The story of Rick Wershe Jr. is kind of a straightforward drug informant case, except for his age. However, in the U.S., where there is a huge drug problem a 14-year-old dealing or even doing drugs seems commonplace, an all too familiar story that in film form may be uninteresting.

Yes, it would be sad state if the above statement might be true. “White Boy Rick” points out that this could be true.

IRATE SCORE: 2/5

Jason Guyer is an avid moviegoer and works in the graphics department at the Eagle Times. For questions or comments he can be emailed at [email protected]