Film Review: Dope

“So, am I a geek or a menace?”- Malcolm

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa and produced by Forest Whitaker, P Diddy and Pharrell Williams, Dope tells the story of Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a geek from a rough LA suburb who loves the 90’s and plays in a punk band with his best friends. Featuring an interesting supporting cast, Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel) playing Jib, one of Malcolm’s best friends. As well as Revolori, Dope features a film debut for hip-hop star A$AP Rocky, who plays drug dealer Dom, the main catalyst for the ensuing adventure that Dope evolves into.

This film has the word ‘cool’ written all over it, which makes it such an easy watch for the viewer. The fashion, the hilarious odes to modern life, such as ‘seven bucks’ coffee, but most importantly, the soundtrack is absolutely killer. Featuring four new original songs from Pharrell Williams, with classic hip-hop songs ranging from Nas to A Tribe Called Quest, the soundtrack is what moulds this movie into a perfect coming-of-age comedic drama, and Germaine Franco has done exceedingly well to set the film’s tone with the score. As far as the look of the film goes, cinematographer Rachel Morrison did a relatively excellent job, capturing LA in all it’s suburban beauty and certainly when the band is performing, the cleverly filmed highway shots are refreshing, and is almost reminiscent of old green-screen filled music videos.

As far as the acting goes, there is no real standout performer, rather just an ensemble of well executed performances, Shameik Moore obviously is the lead in Malcolm, whose arrogant yet witty charm make a riveting main character, and when the more hard-hitting scenes appear, he more than holds his own as the lead. Revolori, A$AP Rocky and Zoë Kravitz are all as good as expected and fulfil their differing roles to the best possible extent it can be said. The film’s plot asks a lot of questions of the viewer, especially when narrator Forest Whitaker addresses them directly, as well as the film’s climax, Malcolm addressing the viewer by breaking the fourth wall and essentially reading out his Harvard application essay to the viewer, posing an interesting question of whether he can be a straight-A, perfect SAT score geek as well as being a menace who deals drugs, such is the world he becomes sucked into through his accidental encounter with A$AP Rocky’s Dom.

Overall, this indie hit tells a relatively accurate story of what one can imagine modern life is like growing up in rough neighbourhood but trying to succeed, the uphill struggle to brush off one’s roots and ultimately moulding your life in the direction of who you want to become as a person. This sharp, witty coming-of-age tale not only is well written and thought provoking; it is also accompanied by an accomplished cast, backed up a score which perfectly sets the film’s tone. A must watch for any indie film fans, as well as those who enjoy a light and dark story in tandem, mixed with a killer soundtrack and cool clothes, Dope makes for such easy viewing.

Rating: 8/10

Words by: Elliott Jones