While I knew this movie didn't do very well in theaters when it was initially released, I decided to give it a chance when I spotted the Blu-ray in my local library, since it would be a free viewing. Under those circumstances, I did find the movie worth my time. The atmosphere in the movie feels very authentic; you can really feel the cold and poverty of the Detroit setting. All the actors do a pretty good job in their roles, and the movie always remained interesting and never boring. However, I didn't think that the movie was as great as it could have been. While the movie runs about 111 minutes, all the same it seems to be biting off a lot more than it can chew. It tries to do too much with not enough time, and as a result many characters and subplots don't seem to get as much depth as they needed to make a full impact (Bruce Dern, for example, hardly gets anything to do.) I don't know if this is how the movie was originally scripted, or that the movie got severely cut down in the editing room (though I suspect the latter.) The movie is still worth a look, but I recommend that you see it the way I did, as a free viewing and with expectations not too high.
Review of White Boy Rick
