The indie drama “Dope” was one of the darlings of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Open Road, best known for distributing the animated comedy “The Nut Job” and the excellent Jake Ghyllenhaal thriller “Nightcrawler”, won the multi-studio bidding war. Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa (“Our Family Wedding”) collaborated with the powerhouse production team of Pharrell Williams, Sean Combs and Forest Whitaker (who also serves as the film’s narrator) for this hip-hop influenced coming-of-age tale.
“Dope” doesn’t break any new ground when it comes to story. Malcolm (played by Shameik Moore – a name you’ll likely be hearing more of in the years to come) is a Black high school senior living with a single mother in crime-heavy, drug-dominated Inglewood, CA. He and his best friends Jib (“The Grand Budapest Hotel”‘s Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Clersey Clemons) are really into the 90s hip hop music culture. The three have a band called Awreeoh. Malcolm considers himself a geek, since he’s a straight A-student, with no criminal record or bad habits. He’s looking to get into Harvard, though the odds are stacked against him.
But Malcolm’s life and prospects change drastically when he meets a pretty girl, does someone a favor and unwittingly gets caught-up in a situation that literally involves dope (illegal drugs), plus gang members, drug money and another pretty girl. He quickly finds himself in way over his head and has to use that straight-A brain to outsmart everyone and survive.
“Dope” relies early and often on coincidences (some a bit far-fetched) in order to move the story along. You get a pretty good idea early on how most things are going to play-out so it’s tough to become emotionally invested in Malcolm’s caper or the shenanigans that take place during a lengthy middle chunk.
What makes the film work is Moore’s very likable presence on screen. He and Zoe Kravitz (daughter of rocker Lenny, who’s building-up a nice film resume), as love-interest Nakia, give the two strongest performances. And “Dope”, for a relatively small-budget indie, has a very impressive look, is technically solid, and includes a nice mix of original music and great 90s hip-hop tracks. Famuyiwa also uses some fun techniques, such as rewinding and flash-forwarding of events, split-screens, graphics, and some cool transitions. All of these add flare to what could’ve been just another forgettable effort in the genre. And there’s actually a solid final scene, rare in movies these days.
On The Official LCJ Report Card, “Dope” gets a C+.
Running Time: 103 min.