White Boy Rick

2018 true crime drama

Rating: 12/20

Plot: I really don't feel like doing these plot synopses today.

The sloppiness distracted me from the tragic narrative. I didn't know the story going in, but it was obvious from the opening conversation between McConaughey and his white boy son in a car--because McConaughey is contractually-obligated to drive in everything he appears in--that things would not work out for these characters.

McConaughey's mullet is a force, by the way, and I thought his performance was really good. He loses control and shows this interior weakness so well in this movie. Richie Merritt does his best to keep up but seems flat in comparison. Bruce Dern and Piper Laurie are great as White Boy Rick's grandparents. For the second movie this year, I really didn't like Jennifer Jason Leigh.

As much as I appreciated the roller skating sequences and the period details, this never really grabbed me. The story didn't gel, though that might be more to do with how late I watched this, and and I never thought I was feeling these characters the way I was supposed to. Motivations felt underdeveloped as they seemed guided by a lazy script rather than driven by anything.