With the summer full of action blockbusters, some good and some bad, it’s nice to have a breather sometime. Dope was that film for me. It’s was a cool fun film, intertwined with social messages.

I researched what Dope was about months ago, but all I remembered going into the theater was that it was about a Black boy trying to get into Harvard. While that was the catalyst for the film, I’m glad that the film was about more than that.

Things got real for our main character, Malcolm, quickly. I don’t want to give the film away, but Malcolm and friends found themselves in some sticky jams and used some ingenious thinking to navigate them.

My favorite thing about this film is that it didn’t take itself too seriously. At the end of the day, it was about a group of teens trying to have fun while navigating their decisions that ranged from brilliant to downright dumb. They didn’t have the weight of the world on their shoulders, and they didn’t pretend to.

Dope does sneak in some good social messages. There’s the whole anything positive and/or not involved with hip hop being viewed as white culture. Or how Black kids have to work twice as hard to accomplish what a white kid does ie getting into college. And an interesting conversation about who can say the N-word.

I can appreciate Dope for not overpowering us with their messages. My main problem with Dear White People was it so heavy handed with the messages, but it missed a few marks. Dope was more balanced.

I did have a couple of issues with the film. There was a noticeable lack of darkskin women. There’s even a lack of women with medium complexion. If you weren’t familiar with the actors, you might question whether they were Black at all, especially given the Rachel Dolezal fiasco. Another issue I had — it’s more of a personal gripe — is that there wasn’t enough Kimberly Elise. I know the film wasn’t about her at all, but you can’t squander that talent. You have to rework the plot to include more of her.

This is one of those films that I would watch again and again. And the soundtrack is Dope as well (couldn’t resist that pun). Using an arbitrary rating system, I would give it 4 Bitcoin out of 5.

Dope is out in theaters. Tickets are available here.

The post Film Review: A ‘Dope’ Review appeared first on Films of Color.

It’s been a while since we’ve had a good Black coming of age film. Well, Dope is angling to fill that void. It reminds of the classic, The Wood. Check out the synopsis and trailer below and get ready for the hijinks of these teenagers.

Synopsis:

Malcolm is a geek, carefully surviving life in The Bottoms, a tough neighborhood in Inglewood, CA filled gangsters and drugs dealers, while juggling his senior year of college applications, interviews and the SAT. His dream is to attend Harvard. A chance invitation to a big underground party leads Malcolm and his friends into a, only in Los Angeles, gritty adventure filed with offbeat characters and bad choices. If Malcolm can persevere, he’ll go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.

Cast:

Shameik Moore – Malcolm

Kiersey Clemons – Diggy

Tony Revolori – Jib

Zoë Kravitz – Nakia

A$AP Rocky – Dom

Blake Anderson – Will

Keith Stanfield – Bug

Rick Fox – Councilman Blackmon

Kimberly Elise – Lisa Hayes

Forest Whitaker – Narrator

Crew:

Director/Writer – Rick Famuyiwa

Producer – Forest Whitaker

Dope is set to be released June 19, 2015. Tickets are available here.

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