Open Road FilmsShameik Moore is Malcolm in Dope, and as the narrator (Forest Whitaker) explains, Malcolm lives in Inglewood, California in the rough Darby-Dixon neighborhood, referred to as “The Bottoms.” He’s also obsessed with 90s hip-hop culture — when we meet him, he’s got a Kid ‘n Play haircut and is listening to Naughty by Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray,” on cassette, in a Walkman.
Malcom’s not only passionate about 90s hip-hop, he also has a punk band with his two best friends, Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons), the latter a lesbian most people confuse for a boy. As if all that didn’t make Malcolm different enough, he’s also a genius and wants to attend Harvard.
Malcolm’s Ivy league dreams are jeopardized when he accidentally acquires a large amount of Molly foisted on him by a drug dealer named Dom (rapper A$AP Rocky), which is the event that largely propels the movie forward. Making things more interesting is Zoe Kravitz as Nakia, Dom’s on again/off again girlfriend, who here is the spitting image of her mother, actress Lisa Bonet (I’m guessing that was intentional). Let’s just say Nakia will inspire some confidence in our young hero.
Dope isn’t exactly The Breakfast Club, Risky Business or Do the Right Thing, and yet in many ways it is. It’s as if writer/director Rick Famuyiwa appropriated plotlines and moments from those movies the way Will, a white character in Dope, appropriates black culture and Malcolm, Jib and Diggy appropriate white punk and 90s hip-hop culture.
And yet, it’s not an appropriation at all. Rather, Famuyiwa was influenced by those films and as a result, has produced something that borders on terrific. It’s very much like Malcolm, who writes his Harvard entrance essay on Ice Cube, then defies his guidance counselor’s advice to choose a more conventional topic: “I could write about the typical, ‘I’m from a poor, crime-filled neighborhood, don’t know my dad, blah, blah, blah. It’s cliché.”
Malcolm is an amalgam of many things, and so Dope, but neither is cliché. Famuyiwa instead has used it all to craft a film that perfectly captures millennial zeitgeist. Many movies have tried to do it, playing to millennials by adopting a social media and gaming cultural aesthetic, and even using video game storytelling techniques. In Dope, the millennial vibe is effortless. From bitcoins to Snapchat, everything we see the characters using and discussing arises organically, save for a few major frustrating coincidences that keep the movie from being perfect.
Dope was the comedy darling of the Sundance Film Festival, and it lives up to the hype. If you ever wanted to see an intelligent Spike Lee joint with a John Hughes sensibility, this is the movie for you.
Four out of five stars.
Copyright © 2015, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
