White Boy Rick

Set in a depressed 1980s Detroit, in an America embarking on a war against drugs, White Boy Rick follows the true story of Ricky Wershe Jr., a teenaged drug informant turned dealer, moving, and sometimes fumbling, between both sides of the law.

 

In the Wershe's blue-collar home, Richard Sr. dreams of opening a chain of video stores, but makes his living as a licenced gun dealer - with a side business manufacturing illegal silencers. His affable son, Rick Jr., shares his entrepreneurial spirit. Tasked with selling guns to local drug dealers, Rick Jr. gets a taste for their lifestyle. When federal agents get a hold of him, he is forced into a risky web of lies and deceit.

 

Yann Demange flexes his directorial muscles in his second feature, with a Scorsese-esque sensibility and a killer soundtrack, and featuring a breakthrough performance by Merritt as the lead. White Boy Rick is an affecting and intelligent cautionary tale about the consequences of people and governments seeking simple solutions to complex problems.