Dope

So I had a lot of people raving about this film. I personally didn't have much of an interest in it when I first saw it but I kept on hearing people on the internet talking about how much they liked this movie Dope and how it's a must see from 2015. I put it on my Netflix list, telling myself that Iw as going to find the time to check it out eventually.

Well as you've seen in the last few posts, I am cleaning house for the end of the year and watching movies that have been on my Netflix list pretty much all year. I'm hoping to start 2017 with a clean or single digits Netflix list.

Dope follows the story of three high school aged kids named Malcolm (played by Shameik Moore) Jib (played by Tony Revolori) and Diggy (played by Kiersey Clemons). These kids are the geeks in high school. They like the 90s a lot and dress and talk as such. This of course gets them picked on and beat up by the school bullies.

Malcolm is the main character and he is a straight A student who wants to go to Harvard. But he also wants to experience life in high school the same way any kid does. He wants to go to the prom, he wants to hang out with the cool kids, etc. I'm really glad that they didn't try and pull any of the formulaic crap where Malcolm gets caught up with the cool kids and leave his real friends anywhere. This movie could have easily fallen into that trap and it fortunately doesn't.

After the three of them get invited to a party by a known drug dealer, Malcolm finds himself in the possession of a bag of drugs and a gun and the middle of a drug feud. The rest is a coming of age tale about three black kids which is something you don't see that often, and a journey for Malcolm to get rid of the drugs, get into Harvard, and get the girl... Oh Zoe Kravitz is sort of in this film... sort of.

The first thing I will say about this movie is that it is kind of all over the place. First it's a coming of age story, then it's a drug crime film, then it's a story about the music that they play, then it's a story about race. It's just kind of everywhere. Some of it is really interesting and some of it seems really out of place because all those stories can be intertwined but not always.

I think Dope does a decent job at attempting to bring all those elements together but there are parts where the movie seems a little lost and trying to get back on track.  On top of that, it's a coming of age tale but this is definitely a Rated R movie, so it's sometimes hard to tell what audience this movie is directed at... well at least until the end.

The reason I think I've heard a lot of praise about this movie is really the last 5 minutes of the film. At the end, Malcolm gives this really powerful speech about race and it's pretty good. While I was watching the film I was wondering why this movie got so much praise but then the ending comes and I understand why people like this film. I think it picks up the slack of the rest of the movie which felt very aimless and course corrects it into one message and it's a pretty good one. Now, I still think that the movie goes off in a lot of different directions, not all of them making a lot of sense, but the ending takes what it can and makes it an overall good message that I think a lot of people need to hear.

My biggest complaint about this movie is some of the decisions made by the characters. And listen, I get it, these are high school kids. They're going to do stupid stuff, I totally get it.

But there's a point at the start of the movie where I just said, maybe you don't bring the drugs to the police, but get rid of them! Before any of this happens, you just get rid of the drugs. Nobody except the drug dealer in jail knows who this kid is, just get rid of them! On top of that, there's a couple scenes in the film that were just stupid. I mean they're on the run from these other drug dealers and they go to this one guys house with his smoking hot sister. Again, they're being chased by drug dealers. So what do they do? Get fast food, play music, and Malcolm tries to bang the smoking hot sister. And that would work great if this movie felt like a comedy... but it doesn't. Especially with how serious this movie gets, it doesn't feel like a comedy at all.

And then there's Shameik Moore.

Now I don't hate this guy, if I stay with a movie for a certain amount of time, I usually empathize with the main character regardless, I mean look at Filth. But Moore just had too many times in the movie where I just thought his acting was awkward and weird in his delivery of lines.

Now again, I get it, he's a teenager, he's going to be awkward at times. But something about his performance didn't come off as the good awkward, it was just weird. I don't think he was terrible, but I don't think he was great either. I think Dope was a lightning in the bottle for this kid because he just needed to be an awkward teenager which (the guy is 21) he's not that far off from that. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe he'll end up doing great things. But if I don't see Shameik Moore again after this, I won't be surprised. I know he's in the Netflix series The Get Down and if anybody defends this guy, I am glad to be wrong... if I am.

The other kids were fine. I liked Tony Revolori in Grand Budapest Hotel and it's good to see him in more things, and Kiersey Clemons is supposed to be Iris West in the new DC cinematic universe so that's something I'm interested in going forward.

And again... I guess Zoe Kravitz is in this film?

She is barely in this film at all and her character could have been taken out completely. I mean Malcolm has no problem trying to bang the smoking hot sister (played by Chanel Iman) in the middle of the movie, I don't think he's incredibly emotionally tied to Zoe Kravitz.

Overall, Dope is fine movie. I liked the story, even though it kind of wandered, and I had a decent time watching it. As a whole, I don't think it's really my cup of tea, I've never been a huge fan of  coming of age stories starring white people anyways, I don't think coming of age tales starring black people really change my mind that much. But hey that's my opinion. I still think the movie is decent, just not for me. Check it out on Netflix and see what you think for yourself.

But those are my thoughts on Dope. What did you think? Did this movie speak to you? I've heard different things on this movie, I want to know where you stand. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Here's an interview with Shameik Moore. Watching this kid in real life, I understand his style just in general and I understand the awkwardness. I'm still not a huge fan of it in the movie, but I get it now. Enjoy!