Dope was a critical and audience hit at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection of the Cannes International Film Festival. It’s a critical darling that has generated major buzz in the art house world, and finally makes its debut on these shores in a theatrical release.
The story is of Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a good kid in one of the worst neighborhoods of LA — “The Bottoms.” It is a gang-infested area that has streets full of drug dealers. It takes a sure foot to navigate these streets and Malcolm has learned to survive. His two best friends, Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) and Jib (Tony Revolori), complete a trio who are all into 1990s hip-hop culture and play in a hard-core band. The three are considered geeks in their school but they enjoy life and each others company.
Things become complicated for Malcolm when he is invited to a birthday party for drug-dealer Dom (ASAP Rocky). Malcolm wants to go in order to get closer to Nakia (Zoe Kravitz), a local hot girl. A mix-up happens at the club and a giant bag of drugs is slipped into Malcolm’s school bag. The next morning, the three kids find the drugs and Malcolm gets a phone call on where to deliver the merchandise. As he goes to make the drop off, he gets another phone call, this time from Dom, who warns him that the whole thing is a set-up. Now Malcolm has the drugs and someone trying to get him.
In the first of many strange turns, Malcolm and the gang have been told that he needs to sell the drugs. This turns into a bit-coin scandal and dealing drugs to the white kids outside the hood. Will (Blake Anderson) is a stoner and their connection to a wider world of distributions. This along with taking the SAT and having an interview with a Harvard recruiter make up the bulk of Dope.
The chemistry between the three kids is infectious and one believes that they are nerdy best buddies. It was enjoyable to watch them just hang out and be friends. One sequence in which Diggy slaps Will for using the ‘N’ word is a laugh-filled bit of silliness. There are so many great performances throughout the screenplay. The drug dealer is not a bad guy but a real individual. As a matter of fact, no one in the screenplay by Rick Famuyiwa is a caricature, but even the smallest role is a fully functioning character.
The problem with said screenplay is that there is just too much going on. There is this meandering feeling throughout the work as if Rick just didn’t want to trim any bits from his writing. There are many moments that just feel out of place and many other moments that needed to be cut down or cut out. It would have been more effective to have given us less. Dope has a very independent vibe which is both a good and a bad thing. There is so much going on that the screenplay almost collapses. It was funny and had a bit of charm but it is not a monster Cannes film experience.
