Dope is a film that was marketed very well, which is a rare
case in these modern times. I thought I
knew what to expect from the movie, but I had no idea to what depth this film
would go. The trailers were very good,
showing enough to draw interest while not exposing too much of the plot. It was very refreshing to go to a movie
thinking I had it all figured out only to realize that I didn’t know the half
of it.
The
story is about Malcolm, a high school senior who lives in a rough part of
California. Malcolm is, by his own
admission, a geek. He spends his time
hanging around with his two geek friends, dressing like it’s 1990, and working
toward getting into Harvard. This is
Malcolm’s life until he makes a foolish decision that changes everything.
The character of Malcolm may be the best
character I have seen in a movie this year.
This is a character driven film and a strong main character is its
strength, as it should be. Shameik Moore
does a good job in this role, but he was very fortunate to have such a terrific
character to portray. He seems like a
real person. He is a geek, but not the
stereotypical geek we generally see in movies.
He has a lot of confidence in some ways, which is one of the things that
gets him in trouble in the film. He has
a demeanor about him that is very likeable but he has flaws. Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa should be
commended for creating such a tremendous character.
This is
a very original screenplay. That can be
both good and bad. In this case it is
mostly good. It’s basically a dialogue
driven film and most of it is very engaging.
On the other hand, there are scenes in which the dialogue is not all
that good, which stands out in a film that is paced as deliberately as this one
is. For the most part, it is a good,
original, well written film.
The
movie is highly entertaining. It is
funny in a realistic way. No matter how bizarre
the situation, it seems like something that could actually happen. This
is not a straight comedy by any stretch of the imagination, but there are still
plenty of laughs to be had. In fact, I
would say it is probably the funniest movie of the year so far.
My
biggest problem with the film is its tonal issues. It can’t decide if it wants to be a light
teen comedy or a very heavy drama. It
felt a bit manic at times. I think some
of that was because of the editing, which was all over the place. Also, there was a major aspect of the plot
that I didn’t really get. This made the
second half of the film feel a little disjointed.
I
thought the ending of the film was very good for the most part. It went in a different way than I was
expecting. The messages, which were
delivered brilliantly in very heavy handed fashion in the final act, were on
point and relevant. There was one line
at the end of the movie that bothered me.
It brought up a racial issue that was absolutely not necessary and hadn’t
entered into the film at all up until that point. Other than that, I thought the ending was
spectacular.
This
movie caught me completely by surprise.
That is a good thing. It had its
share of problems, but the originality and effort that was put into it makes up
for a lot of that. This is a movie that
is certainly worth seeing and one that I will most likely watch again. The Movie Man gives it 3.5 out of 5
stars.
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