Check This One Out! - Dope

Check This One Out! - Dope  

 Malcolm: "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Malcolm Adekanbi. I'm a straight-A student with nearly perfect SAT score. I play in a punk band with my friends and I'm a 90's hip hop geek. A bad day for most geeks would be being the butt of jokes, but when you live in the Bottoms, a bad day could look like this..."

      Dope is directed by Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood, Brown Sugar, The Flash currently in pre-production) and starsShameik Moore as Malcolm Adekanbi, Tony Revolori as Jib, Kiersy Clemons as Diggy, Blake Anderson as Will Sherwood, Zoe Kravitz as Nakia, A$AP Rocky as Dom, Kimberly Elise as Lisa Hayes, Chanel Iman as Lily Jacoby, Quincy Brown as Jaleel Jacoby, Keith Stanfield as Bug, Roger Guenveur Smith as Austin Jacoby, and Forest Whitaker as The Narrator.

Friends 4 Life

      High School Senior Malcolm Adekanbi and his two best friends, Jib and Diggy, are super geeks that are into their studies, 90's music culture, and playing their instruments. They're normal geeks on the streets of Los Angeles when they are invited to a drug dealer's birthday party. The party turns awry and violence breaks out. The three friends get away, but the drug dealer, known as Dom, stashed some very powerful ecstasy, that the invaders of the party wanted, in the backpack of Malcolm. Unbeknownst to Malcolm, he runs away, but the next day finds out that he is in possession of this drug. A crazy adventure falls upon Malcolm, Jib, and Diggy to try and find out what to do with the backpack while other drug dealers are trying to kill them for it. Soon enough they run into stranger and stranger circumstances that could get them into trouble. HUGE legal trouble and in the meantime, Malcolm still needs to figure out how he is going to get into Harvard, the school of his dreams (and everyone else's!).

Yeah, they look like they don't even want to be close to this sort of situation.

      I have seen movies like these (and I bet you have too): an underdog kind of character gets looped into bad circumstances (maybe drugs, violence, sex, etc.) and eventually ends up on top by becoming the kingpin, top dog, the boss, whatever you want to call it. Dope does this in such a different way; a very good way. Director Rick Famuyiwa spins this underdog story to a length where it goes cartoonishly smart, if that makes any sense. He creates a world surrounding a geek (which maybe I'm just partial to because of my geeky characteristics) in an underprivileged neighborhood that sees him wanting to fail, but Malcolm, a potential Harvard student, is smart enough to evade solve certain problems even if it's an illegal way. Dope is also a coming of age story with Malcolm in the forefront confused about his future. However, this story allows a good kid to become...manipulative, in a way. He uses his smarts to spotlight himself in the drug world which, coming from fantastic grades and being in a geeky punk rock band, is a complete turnaround. Mr. Famuyiwa has really rendered a, what could've easily been, drama into an awesome dramedy and I loved every bit of it. Dope also consists of great characters. The geeky Malcolm is super enjoyable to watch during this drug filled adventure (even though he never takes drugs). Even the secondary characters like Diggy, Jib, and Nakia are relatable enough to make you think that they are people you really know in life.

No need to have this picture, but I just love the way how their equipment is set up in front of a donuts shop.

      Dope succeeds in flipping the underdog/coming of age genre with smart directing and writing thanks to Rick Famuyiwa. Realistic characters helps this film do that and when a film does have them, that automatically gets me on board. Watch Dope when you can. It's a lovely movie and a different movie. If you're tired of the same bulls**t that Hollywood puts out, this will shine a light in the world of originality. The biggest reason that I can recommend Dope though, is that this is a journey of a good kid allows the audience to see how bad things can be looked at from a happier angle. Like I said, this movie could've been dark and gritty, but it isn't. It has a lighter tone and amazing music that makes you want to dance.

Oh, well of course there's fun music: Pharrell is a part of the making of it!

Dope is rated R for language, drug content, sexuality/nudity, and some violence - all involving teens

Click here to watch the trailer

Dope is on DVD, Blu-ray, some streaming services, and digital download

      Thanks for reading, everybody! I really do appreciate it. Please subscribe to my blog and follow me on Facebook here and Twitter here to receive updates on new reviews and trailer drops. Also, if you've already seen Dope, comment and let me know what you think of it. I'll post another Check This One Out! next week. Thanks again!