‘White Boy Rick’ Can’t Quite Connect The Dots [Telluride Review]

TELLURIDE – What happened to Richard Wershe Jr. isn’t great. As a 14-year-old he somehow found himself working as an informant for the FBI. Within three years he was making significant money as a low-level drug dealer in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. And after that? Well, feel free to Google it to find out or you can catch a version of Rick’s life in Yann Demange’s “White Boy Rick” which debuted at the 2018 Telluride Film Festival this past weekend.

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The movie first introduces us to Rick (newcomer Richie Merritt) and his father Richard (Matthew McConaughey) at a local gun show. The two pair up to intimidate a gun dealer into giving them AK-47’s at a below market price displaying a sales skill that has been passed on from one generation to the other. The older Wershe barely makes his living re-selling guns under the table, but dreams of eventually opening up his own video store as a more legitimate living. Rick’s mother left the family years before (although in real life it appears Rick had some sort of relationship with her) while his older sister Dawn (Bel Powley) and grandparents (Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie thankfully on hand for comic relief) make up his immediate family.

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Even at this young age, Rick has guts and he has no visible fear of trying to sell those AK-47’s his father purchased to the biggest drug dealer in the neighborhood, Johnny “Lil Man” Curry (Jonathan Majors). The head of a primarily African-American crime operation, Lil Man is intrigued by the kid and welcomes him into the fold where he becomes good friends with “Boo” Curry (RJ Cyler), who is closer to Rick’s age. Rick’s new affiliation is almost immediately noticed by two FBI agents (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rory Cochrane) who are looking for a way in to take down Lil Man’s operation. Teaming up with a local Detroit police officer (Brian Tyree Henry) they essentially threaten to expose the gun racket his dad is running if Rick doesn’t snitch for them.

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This is one of the key moments in the film where Andy Weiss, Logan Miller, and Noah Miller’s screenplay is simply confusing. It’s already not clear what Rick is doing with Lil Man’s crew besides hanging with Boo and attending late night parties at a popular roller skating rink. Now, the FBI has him selling crack cocaine so he can make his own money on the street. How this helps the authorities get closer to taking down Lil Man’s operation makes little sense. But there’s a lot more going on in Rick’s personal life to distract you from his potential legal troubles.

Dawn’s drug addiction which was hinted at earlier has gotten dramatically worse and she’s left home to live with a boyfriend her father doesn’t approve of. Rick also runs into a former schoolmate he’s had a crush on, Brenda (Kyanna Simone Simpson), which has serious consequences nine months later. Richard, meanwhile, has a hit low point with Rick disinterested in his money schemes and visible heartache over his estranged daughter. And there’s a lot more twists and turns to go (some more justifiable than others).

Demange, who earned glowing reviews for his debut “’71,” tries to guide all these plotlines and characters with a steady hand, but it often feels too unwieldy. There are simply too many storylines and threads competing with each other. The result is a movie that it feels like snippets of a life instead of a portrait of one. Luckily, Demange has assembled a fantastic cast who often save the movie and give it a jolt of energy and much-needed humor when it needs it.  Is it entertaining at times?  Sure, but that doesn’t mean it makes a lot of sense.

Powley is absolutely the best part of the picture chronicling Dawn’s spiraling addiction and recovery with an impressively realistic performance. It’s a pointed reminder of just how talented the “Diary of a Teenage Girl” actress really is. McConaughey has a rough start but eventually settles in giving an emotional turn as a father who will do anything to keep his family together. Actors such as Tyree Henry and Jason Leigh have much less screen time than you’d hope but infuse their characters with an authenticity the film sometimes desperately needs. Taylour Paige is also fantastic as Cathy, Lil Man’s wife, who notices Rick’s wandering eyes on her and is much smarter than the men who are sycophants to her husband recognize. In fact, she’s so good you wish Cathy was a more prominent character in the movie. And that, of course, leaves us with Merritt.

Discovered at a local casting call at his Baltimore High School, “White Boy Rick” is Merrit’s first professional role and at first, you can see why Demange wanted to cast him. He has an authenticity that makes you believe he could have walked into Lil Man’s world and been treated seriously. What is missing, however, is an actor who can truly convey the necessary range of emotions needed to respond to the events in Rick’s life. He pulls it together for a memorable final scene with McConaughey (who is fantastic opposite him), but it’s not enough to make the audience truly invested in Rick’s plight.

When it comes down to it “White Boy Rick” wants to make the argument that the federal government (i.e., the FBI) put our hero on a road that made him a drug dealer at the ridiculously young age of 14. Therefore, because of their actions, they are responsible for his eventual, tragic fate. The problem is that Demange and the screenwriters just have so much going on and there are so many unanswered questions that when it comes time to conveying this thematic point it feels almost tacked on to the rest of Rick’s story. And even Powley and McConaughey’s performances can’t overcome that unmistakeable flaw. [C+]

“White Boy Rick” opens nationwide on Sept. 14.

Check out all our coverage from the 2018 Telluride Film Festival here.