A Dope Movie Review
by Jenna Lennon
The 2015 Sundance Film Festival hit Dope ends with a powerful statement: “So why do I want to attend Harvard? If I was white, would you even have to ask me that question?”
The film follows a trio of best friends, a group of ’90s hip-hop nerds who unexpectedly find themselves involved in the drug ring of Inglewood, California. When Malcolm, a straight-A student vying for admission to Harvard University (Shameik Moore), and his friends, Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons), receive an opportune moment to attend a high-profile, underground party - or as high profile as a party can get when living in The Bottoms, a neighborhood filled with drug dealers, gangsters, and bad decisions - they jump at the chance. There’s a police raid, a bag switch, chaos ensues, and Malcolm & co. are sent on a drug- intensified wild goose chase around southern California …all on the same day as Malcom’s interview with Harvard alumnus, Austin Jacoby (Roger Guenveur Smith).
A hit at the Sundance Film Festival, Dope bolstered competition for its rights from the likes of Sony Media and Fox (the winning bid left Open Roads as the distributor of the film nationally and Sony as the distributor intentionally), but seemed to falter at the box office, grossing just $6 million opening weekend and just $18 million worldwide by September.
Perhaps the discrepancy in numbers stems from the film’s attempt to tackle bigger issues that you wouldn’t quite pick up on from the film’s marketing: I personally wouldn’t want to pay nearly $15 to see a movie with the tagline “It’s hard out here for a geek.” If I’m being honest, I had no desire, myself, to see it in theaters when I knew I could wait and see it on Netflix a few months later.
At first glance, there is nothing unique about this movie. Sure, it’s shot beautifully and features a pretty good soundtrack with some old school classics, a few tracks from Nas, Busta Rhymes, and sprinkled with several Pharrell Williams head-bobbers that you’d honestly expect from any coming-of-age movie. And the pretty good acting makes the premise of the film just barely believable and not-so-much overused and overdone; Moore adds subtle cynicism and an I’m-better-than-you-and-I-know- it attitude to his character that perfectly encompasses the mindset of any seventeen year old, and Revolori, previously known for his role in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Clemons add an extra layer of teenage-angst and naivety to their supporting roles.
The Rick Famuyiwa-directed movie as a whole is pretty good, just as dozens of other Sundance-turned- Hollywood movies competing for box office success are pretty good. But Dope brings a little something extra to the table that I can’t quite put my finger on.
Dope begins to tackle issues that so many other films in the industry have yet to uncover, but let’s take a step back. You’re probably thinking…why? Why would a high school senior battling college applications and the SAT - a Harvard-potential, no less - become so invested in delivering this backpack full of drugs across L.A.? (Or better yet, how does he even have time to do so ?) Why not drop the bag on the doorstep of any one of the number of drug dealers living in the same neighborhood as Malcolm, which the film makes a point to put extra emphasis on?
And that’s where Dope leaps from pretty good to great.
The obvious answer is that not delivering the backpack means Malcolm could find himself treading some tough waters; it’s clear that Dom (A$AP Rocky), the host of that aforementioned party and the switcher-of-the-bags, actually likes Malcolm. In an attempt to protect them, he encourages Malcom and his friends to deliver the bag to a man named AJ, and not getting this bag to where it needs to be could mean trouble in the form of jail time for Dom and quite possibly Malcolm and his friends. Of course, Malcom doesn’t want to be responsible for that.
Or maybe it’s the fact that - plot twist - Malcom realizes delivering the backpack and distributing the drugs inside will go hand in hand with his acceptance to Harvard University when he arrives for his interview and learns that AJ and Austin Jacoby are the same person.
Dope succeeds at making the viewers think - something that I think is more important than any other aspect of a movie. For Malcolm, going to Harvard means escaping The Bottoms and making a life for himself outside of a drug-filled neighborhood; but when his acceptance becomes contingent on his ability to sell those drugs, Dope makes it clear that once you’re at the bottom, it’s impossible to get to the top.