There are times when you watch a newcomer in a role and know, just know, that they’ll go on to tackle great, eclectic challenges; with…
There are times when you watch a newcomer in a role and know, just know, that they’ll go on to tackle great, eclectic challenges; with “Call Me By Your Name” still in moviegoers’ rearview mirrors, Timothee Chalamet, for example, is already proving himself an enormous, versatile talent. But other times, such as with Richie Merritt, the star of “White Boy Rick,” you’re no less transfixed, but you wonder: Is this young actor simply perfect in this one role? Or can he countenance others with that beautifully, ordinarily dull expression? While there isn’t a single moment in his performance that doesn’t feel utterly believable, it also seems singularly engineered for this character and this one alone.
“White Boy Rick,” director Yann Demange’s account of the young, wasted life of real-life teen drug dealer and FBI informant Richard Wershe Jr., is punctuated by surprising verisimilitude that uplifts a latter-day “Scared Straight” premise beyond the boundaries of the A-list cast brought in to bolster its prestige. But it’s Merritt’s devastatingly authentic turn as a kid propelled by good intentions and naïve ambition to scuttle his own life in order to create a better one for his family that makes Demange’s follow-up to the critically-acclaimed “’71” a frequently indelible cinematic experience, charged with unique energy and impact even when its premise is overly familiar.
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