Three best friends. Two choices. One epic adventure.
DOPE is an incredible film that broke out onto the festival scene in 2015. This was a very original concept for a movie, and you certainly have never seen anything like it.
The movie follows Malcolm and his two best friends, Jib and Diggy, as they get caught up in the wrong scene. The three characters love 90s hip hop culture and are straight A students, but somehow they end up with a crazy amount of drugs and have to make a tough decision. Do they take it to the police and risk taking the fall for someone else, or do they follow a powerful drug lord’s instructions to sell the drugs and give him the profits?
The movie could be so many things, as in it isn’t quite what you expect. There are several possible sub-plots that you may suspect the film will follow based on the trailer. However, the movie goes off in a completely new direction from beginning to end. For example, Malcolm is being raised by a single mom in poor neighborhood, “The Bottoms,” that has high crime rates. Dom is a young drug dealer living in the same neighborhood, who could have had a very bright future if only he had been given better opportunities. Nakia, Malcolm’s love interest, is studying for the GED test in the beginning of the film and has hopes of attending college. These three circumstances could be the main focus of the movie, but they’re just snippets.
DOPE is described as a crime comedy-drama, but it really is everything you didn’t know you wanted in a movie. It’s entertaining, hilarious, enlightening and provides great perspective.
Malcolm is played by Shameik Moore and gives an outstanding performance. His character steals the show, but the supporting cast can also stand on their own. Tony Revolori, who you may recognize from Wes Anderson’s Oscar-winning Grand Budapest Hotel, and Kiersey Clemons completely embodied their roles as Jib and Diggy. You could see that their loyalty and close bonds ran deep in support of Malcolm because they were understanding and took on the burden of their decisions together.
You will also see appearances made by A$AP Rocky, Tyga and Blake Anderson. Forest Whitaker produced the movie and is the narrator of the film.
Music for DOPE was by Germaine Franco. The soundtrack is phenomenal and really coincides with the action and plot of the movie. Featured on the soundtrack is Malcolm, Jib, and Diggy’s band, Awreeoh. The music really helped to bring the film to life.
This movie jumped into my top 5 favorites of all time as soon as I began watching it. I truly hope you take the time to the see it, as well. It’s available for streaming on Netflix.