White Boy Rick
I've been waiting for this film to arrive on Netflix for a while in my region. It dropped recently and I got to see it yesterday. It had some slow moments but overall it is quite entertaining and worth seeing.
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I'm a big fan of true crime stories and although I don't know how much of this story is fabricated and I am not going to look into it I do know that this is a prime example of how the war on drugs has been pretty dumb in the USA. Despite having Matthew McConaughey in it and a pretty engaging story it managed to lose money, it was also released in theaters during a weekend that had some pretty weak competition.
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The story focuses primarily on the two Rick Wershes who are father and son. Dad (played by Matthew McConaughey) is a low-level gun dealer which he operates semi-legally. Through a series of events Rick Jr, ends up being befriended and accepted with the local drug kingpin and this connects him to all manor of things that a 16 year old kid shouldn't have access to.
Rick's home life is portrayed as not very good. A mother figure is mentioned but never seen and his sister "Dawn" (who is brilliantly played by Bel Powley and is arguably the best performance in this film) has turned into a junkie over the years. Rick Jr. sees his connection to the criminal underworld as a way of pulling up his entire family and at least for a time, he succeeds in doing so.
This film is fun because it is based in reality and also because it kind of has a message about the futility of the United States' continued war on drugs and how there are a lot of people who are charged excessively even though they were cooperating with authorities and in the case of "White Boy Rick" actually coerced into their involvement in the drug industry by the authorities.
The movie is extra fun for those of us that were alive in the 80's because there is a lot of throwbacks as far as music, fashion, vehicles, and even a trip to the ol' roller skating rink / disco (remember those?). I won't say that this movie is great because it did get a bit boring in the middle as I think they kind of struggled to get enough material to make a full-length movie. I enjoyed it and if you have Netflix you may wish to check it out yourself especially if you were alive during the time-period in question.
My niece had her birthday party at the roller rink last year. I don't remember it being so dirty when I was a kid. We actually have one down the road from where I live, but I haven't been to it since I was a kid. I just saw a news story about this the other day. I think Rick was up for parole or something and it got denied. Something like that. I could be wrong.
in this film the roller-rink is like the local disco that happens to have skates for rent. That was not the type-of experience that I had as a kid but I do remember it being a relatively safe place for parents to offload their kids at for a few hours. I was unaware that they still existed and to a certain extent, i am happy that they still are.