Dope
(2015)A geek (newcomer Shameik Moore) from a tough neighbourhood in Los Angeles tries to find his place in academia in this coming-of-age tale. However, one night at an underground party sends him in a wildly different direction - one that will make him the dopest dude around. Co-stars The Grand Budapest Hotel's Tony Revolori, Zoë Kravitz and rapper A$AP Rocky.... More
"Malcolm is a high school geek with a high-top fade, carefully navigating life in The Bottoms, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Inglewood, California. He and his fellow outcasts share a voracious appreciation for all things '90s hip-hop, opting to sport Cross-Colours and Z. Cavariccis at the risk of being clowned at school. He dreams of attending Harvard, but first he has to make it home every day. When a drug dealer takes a shine to Malcolm and invites him to his birthday party, Malcolm’s crew is swirled into a hilarious blender of offbeat characters and bad choices where redemption can only be found in Bitcoin." (Sundance Film Festival)Hide
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Best Editing winner at Sundance Film Festival 2015
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Directed by Rick Famuyiwa
Starring Zoë Kravitz, Forest Whitaker, Blake Anderson, Keith Stanfield, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Shameik Moore, A$AP Rocky
Written by Rick Famuyiwa
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
Available from 2 providers
Flicks Review
BY Giles Hardie Flicks Writer
Move over Ferris Bueller, high school has a new king and the high school movie genre has a new heavyweight. Meet Malcolm and his two friends. Three self-professed high school geeks with an obsession for ‘90s hip hop who are weeks from graduating having navigated the complex dilemmas of life in a modern high school world and urban gang war landscape. They are surviving if not thriving until one day Malcolm crosses paths with Dom, the top run on the local gangster totem and sets in motion an out of control spiral of a high school caper that has the potential to set Malcolm up for life, or end his days far sooner than anticipated.... More
The film opens by articulating the three meanings for Dope – dumb, weed and awesome - and they are all worked in to this glorious tale. The crucial word however is fresh. Dope is a mesmerizingly fresh take on the well-worn and much-loved high school genre.
From its awesome soundtrack to its twisting original plot, this is a fun and fantastic wild ride through action, mild-level debauchery and mid-level illegal entrepreneurship that demands an impresario performance from Shameik Moore as Malcolm in order to ground it all in a plausible and enjoyable fashion. To say Moore delivers is an understatement, this is a break through performance that screams future star.
The big names are behind the scenes with Forest Whitaker, Sean Combs and Pharrell Williams all getting producer credits. It explains the way that race politics are seamlessly interwoven in the tale to amuse as much as enlighten, with nary a soapbox or moral judgment in sight. Dope is a must-see not only for lovers of high school flicks but for anyone who wants a glimpse of film’s future.
In short, Dope is dope (awesome).Hide
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Dope
BY JackWallace superstar
Dope is the funniest high school teen comedy since Superbad. A hilarious, fresh and extremely entertaining coming of age story. Shameik Moore (Don Cheadle with a flattop) is excellent as Malcolm, a geek who loves 90s culture. Go see Dope, it's pretty dope.
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The Press Reviews
89%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
A crowd-pleaser from start to finish. Full Review
The fun momentum of Dope’s breakneck plotting and snappy dialogue easily overcome any momentary attack of earnestness. Full Review
In the end, just another unfunny grab bag of stereotypes. Don't believe the hype. Full Review
Famuyiwa ... doubles down on an applying-to-Harvard satire that both upends demographic expectations while insisting (at times a bit strenuously) that we all aim a little higher. Full Review
Shoves disparate genre elements together as if pulling jigsaw puzzle pieces from a half-dozen different boxes, and if the finished work isn't quite convincing, it's still fun to look at. Full Review
It's about kids who we're generally not asked to care about: a cast almost entirely made up of actors of colour. Full Review
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