Dope

Review By: John Delia

Dope is dope. It’s a fast moving comedy crime drama that takes you into the hood of Los Angeles and treats you to a story of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The nicely directed characters, equally good acting and satisfactory camera work combines indie magic with an exciting script. The movie won the audience award at Sundance Film Festival and will delight moviegoers across the US. Other than a few flaws in production value, you wouldn’t know the movie was made with a low budget.

Teens Malcolm (Shameik Moore), Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) are geeks who love 90’s music and ride bicycles to get where they need to go.  But they aren’t ordinary nerds as they live in a neighborhood where drug trade is rampant and the people who are involved think drive-in’s are akin to drive-bys. The three are going to high School for an education and are brilliant enough to get into most colleges  – if they only had the money.

One day Malcolm gets waved over by Dom (A$AP Rocky) a local leader of the gang called the Bloods.  Not wanting to disrespect him, Malcolm relays a message for Dom to his girlfriend Nakia (Zoë Kravitz) telling her about his birthday party at a local club. Nakia, being a tough cookie that likes to embarrass Dom, invites Malcolm to show up at the party.  During the party, a drug deal goes bad at the club and the police arrive. In the middle of the melee, Dom slides four kilos of dope and a gun into Malcolm’s backpack. When Malcolm gets to school the next day and discovers what is in his backpack, he finds himself in a mess that just won’t go away.

Very good acting in this hoodie vs goody film keeps the tempo high in a film that kicks off running and never stops until the last card gets played.  Directed and written by Rick Famuyiwa, the film is a once in a lifetime breakout hit. His script has a measure of hope, determination and a strong bond of friendship that rivals classics like Stand by Me, Boyz n the Hood or Superbad. His production looks like it was mostly filmed commando style, shooting indoors whenever possible and street scenes on the fly, but that’s what makes it good.  The scenes are realistic looking and sometimes scary, especially when it turns a crowded nightclub into a shooting gallery.  The film however equally succeeds on the comedy that Famuyiwa infuses in most every scene.

Two of the producers of the film help the effort in turning Dope from good to great.  Pharrell Williams oversees not only the money side of things as the executive producer but supervises a remarkable soundtrack. Pharrell does a great job of creating a soundscape that integrates into the film allowing amazing 90’s hip-hop tracks to blend with original punk anthems adding a bounding beat to accompany the action on screen. Our main characters in this film have their own high school punk band called Awreeoh (pronounced Oreo) and some of the songs they play in this film will probably be surfing the radio sometime soon. With their addictive chords and lyrics that “skyrock” the punk rock is attributed to the musically gifted Pharrell.

Forest Whitaker, another notable producer of the film, also takes his turn as the narrator and serves up a good performance.  He adds both his acting clout and gave a sizable amount of dollar bills so the production could become a reality.

The cast is perfect for the roles with very good performances all around. Famuyiwa uses inspiring upcoming talent like Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori and Kiersey Clemons as his central characters.  Giving Moore his first starring break-out role, the young actor nails the essence of Malcolm.  He crafts him into a confident geek that has the street smarts to outwit gang members and the legs to out-run them. But his loyalty shows bright putting the friendship of Jib and Diggy before all others. Watch the end credits for some of his zany dance moves.

Dope has been rated R by the MPAA for language, drug content, sexuality/nudity, and some violence – all involving teens.

FINAL ANALYSIS: The summer break-out film that should have a long theatrical run. (A)