As much as I enjoy Hollywood Blockbusters, it's always nice to get a nice independent film during the summer season to get away from all the superhero's and explosions that have become routine over the past few years. Dope is a film that fits the criteria.
The film tells the story of Malcom, a geek living in the ghettos of L.A. who's ultimate dream is to attend Harvard. While in the middle of working his way through the applications process in the SAT's, Malcom and his friends find themselves in an unlikely situation after they attend an underground party.
Dope features many things that make independent films so refreshing from big-budget Hollywood films. There's an energy and heart here that's absent in many feature films today. You can tell this was a project where those involved had a drive to bring their vision to the big screen. While the John Hughes-esque story of teens getting into trouble is familiar, the focus on a geeky African-American in an urban climate manages to make it feel somewhat fresh and relevant in today's social climate. It takes advantage of it's environment and does and excellent job of capturing urban L.A.
The other strong area of the film is it's performances. The three leads all are great and have fantastic chemistry with one another. The Shameik Moore is fantastic as Malcom carrying the film with his charisma and has a strong career ahead of him. The supporting cast is good as well, the highlight being Blake Anderson who I normally can't stand stealing every scene he's in. These characters are not only great because they are fun, but they also feel realistic and actually sympathetic. The writing is grounded and witty along with some good social commentary about identity. Oh, and the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard in a film this year.
As much as there is to like about Dope, it's not a great movie. The main problem with Dope is that the tonally it's very uneven. It's ambitiousness results in it feeling like 3 or 4 different movies put together. It's not so much that I had a problem with where the story was going, but rather that the transition is sloppy. The story is also rather predictable, especially in the 2nd half which isn't as strong as the 1st half. Towards the end, the social commentary which I actually didn't mind for the most part starts to get preachy and heavy handed which felt out of place as well.
Even though Dope doesn't quite live up to the Sundance praise it received, it's still a very good film and one of the most enjoyable I've seen this summer. It's great performances, energy, and fresh- take on the genre overcome it's predictable plot and unevenness. Overall, I'd say that Dope is in fact pretty dope.
The film tells the story of Malcom, a geek living in the ghettos of L.A. who's ultimate dream is to attend Harvard. While in the middle of working his way through the applications process in the SAT's, Malcom and his friends find themselves in an unlikely situation after they attend an underground party.
Dope features many things that make independent films so refreshing from big-budget Hollywood films. There's an energy and heart here that's absent in many feature films today. You can tell this was a project where those involved had a drive to bring their vision to the big screen. While the John Hughes-esque story of teens getting into trouble is familiar, the focus on a geeky African-American in an urban climate manages to make it feel somewhat fresh and relevant in today's social climate. It takes advantage of it's environment and does and excellent job of capturing urban L.A.
The other strong area of the film is it's performances. The three leads all are great and have fantastic chemistry with one another. The Shameik Moore is fantastic as Malcom carrying the film with his charisma and has a strong career ahead of him. The supporting cast is good as well, the highlight being Blake Anderson who I normally can't stand stealing every scene he's in. These characters are not only great because they are fun, but they also feel realistic and actually sympathetic. The writing is grounded and witty along with some good social commentary about identity. Oh, and the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard in a film this year.
As much as there is to like about Dope, it's not a great movie. The main problem with Dope is that the tonally it's very uneven. It's ambitiousness results in it feeling like 3 or 4 different movies put together. It's not so much that I had a problem with where the story was going, but rather that the transition is sloppy. The story is also rather predictable, especially in the 2nd half which isn't as strong as the 1st half. Towards the end, the social commentary which I actually didn't mind for the most part starts to get preachy and heavy handed which felt out of place as well.
Even though Dope doesn't quite live up to the Sundance praise it received, it's still a very good film and one of the most enjoyable I've seen this summer. It's great performances, energy, and fresh- take on the genre overcome it's predictable plot and unevenness. Overall, I'd say that Dope is in fact pretty dope.