Dope might be described as an urban, coming-of-age film for the post-hip hop generation. The tagline for the film is, “It’s hard out here for a geek.” Breezily paced, Dope opens with an omniscient narrator (Forest Whitaker) who advises us that “dope” has multiple meanings. These include an illegal drug; someone who is stupid; or something that is cool, the antithesis of geeky. So which one does the film take its title from?
Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a self-described geek who sports an anachronistic ’90s flattop haircut. The African American teen is struggling to survive in The Bottoms, a rough section of Inglewood, Calif. His father has returned to his native Nigeria and Malcolm is being raised by a single mother (Kimberly Elise). She maintains a thankless job as a bus driver to support the two of them.
Now a high school senior, Malcolm hangs out with his two best friends, ethnically indeterminate Jib (Tony Revolori, the bellboy in The Grand Budapest Hotel) and an androgynous lesbian, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons). They share a penchant for phenomena usually associated with white teenagers. This includes BMX biking; collecting Manga comic books; forming a punk rock band, which they name Oreo; and striving for academic success. It’s not surprising that the trio is socially ostracized by their peers and subjected to constant bullying. It’s a constant battle for them to prevent their sneakers and their bikes from getting snatched away.
Malcolm’s high school counselor (Bruce Beatty) lambastes him as arrogant for imagining that he has any chance for acceptance by Harvard. Nevertheless, Malcolm has wrangled a college entry interview with Austin Jacoby (Roger Guenveur Smith). The latter also hails from The Bottoms and is a Harvard alum who now runs a successful chain of check cashing outlets.
Following a chance encounter, a local drug dealer, Dom (rapper A$AP Rocky in his screen debut), decides to exploit Malcolm as a go-between. Dom wants Malcolm to help him win over a local beauty, Nakia (Zoë Kravitz). What Dom doesn’t know is that Malcolm is already crushing on Nakia.
Malcolm and his equally innocent sidekicks are plunged into a dangerous new world. How will they deal with the situation? Will they use their smarts and pluck to turn this situation into a remunerative experience or will they become fatalities in the ongoing turf war for drugs?
Along the way, Dope attains a manic humor. The threesome meet a light-skinned African-American kid with identity issues, Jaleel (Quincy Brown), and his nymphomaniacal sister, Lily (Chanel Iman). With Dom in lock up, a pair of gun-toting criminals tries to purloin the ecstasy from Malcolm and his buddies. Malcolm decides to contact Will (Blake Anderson), a computer hacker/drug dealer who he had met years ago back in his band camp days. The techno-savvy Will concocts a scheme to use bitcoin as a way to sell the drugs online and avoid detection by law enforcement.
Dope is the latest film from Rick Famuyiwa, who wrote and directed The Wood, Talk to Me and Brown Sugar. Like his other films, Dope explores the issues of racial identity, social alienation and the intrinsic value of friendship. Famuyiwa provides colorful, three-dimensional characters, drawing winning performances from each member of the central core of three adolescent characters. Dope is a dope film in the best sense of the word.
Dope
*** 1/2
Shameik Moore
Forest Whitaker
A$AP Rocky
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa
Rated R
