The film is ultimately held together by a terrific supporting performance by Matthew McConaughey

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 16, 2022

White Boy Rick attempts to be the next great Hollywood film about the criminal underworld. But with its slow pacing and rather unpleasant cast of characters, the crime drama fails to achieve a Goodfellas-level balance of gangsterism and mordancy.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 11, 2022

As it stands, White Boy Rick is solid, moving filmmaking, anchored by a bombastic ensemble.

| Feb 11, 2022

While this is indeed an incredible yarn, the acting here can be hit-or-miss.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 22, 2021

Nicely captures the grit of 1980s Detroit and makes a powerful statement of the failure of the war on drugs but despite the multi-pronged story and dramatic turns in Jr.'s life it never completely grabs our attention.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Mar 1, 2021

Here stands the biggest flaw of White Boy Rick" It tells the story, straight as an arrow, but forgets that it's supposed to entertain, too ... The film moves forcibly, unconvincingly forward, like watching a rug weaved before our eyes.

| Jan 29, 2021

The script flirts with ideas such as white privilege only to back away from any real commentary, and these moments only exaggerate the missed opportunities.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 25, 2020

White Boy Rick misses an opportunity to dig deeper into the politics and dubious police behaviour that are the real issues here. Rather than a scathing social critique, all we get is a pretty decent family drama.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 18, 2020

The film's failing's come from the lack of a seamless flow; it feels more like a culmination of events just stuck on back to back.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 13, 2020

It's a film about contradictions, where we're asked to attach to characters that do really bad things.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 9, 2020

Director Yann Demange ('71) seems uncertain whether to play the material as searing drama or black comedy, and so he gives up on establishing a recognizable tone altogether.

| Mar 4, 2020

White Boy Rick is a sobering and well-made look into the 80s Detroit drug game.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 10, 2020

White Boy Rick is a solid and moving character-driven drama, carried on the back of its strong cast. In today's times.

| Oct 29, 2019

Director Yann Demange gets the most out of his cast in this down and dirty tale

| Aug 20, 2019

White Boy Rick is a solid effort that introduces Merritt and reminds us why we love McConaughey and the fact that it is based on a true story makes it all the more interesting.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 8, 2019

As a gangster flick, White Boy Rick doesn't hold a candle to the films it aspires to be... in some ways, that's OK. Solid performances carry us through a narrative that's just one needle in a massive haystack of lives lost to the criminal justice system.

| May 29, 2019

[It] is a gripping film, sad and frightening, but a film well worth seeing.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 22, 2019

White Boy Rick isn't any different from what you see about numerous men of color going to prison. Except the person going to prison and betrayed by forces meant to protect him is a white dude.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Mar 1, 2019

The nervous and tense staging in this film can't topple a story that doesn't decide if its a melodrama or a thriller. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 8, 2019

[Matthew McConaughey] is, in short, not only the film's motor but its moral justification, the fullest representation of a state of affairs and an era marked by social, political and economic decline. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 8, 2019