Review of Dope (2015) by Ethan P — 04 Feb 2016

Dope is pretty dope. It's refreshing, vibrant and surprisingly upbeat. It's narrative focuses on a nerdy kid growing up in a bad neighborhood and selling drugs, but you can barely tell from the way it's presented.

With its bright, natural lighting, colorful costuming and optimistic lead characters, Dope has a fun adventurous spirit. The lead actor, Moore, does an extremely good job as an awkward young man coming of age and the film has a lot of witty humor, talking about Moore wacking off and all the "white shit" he and his friends don't like.

As a teenager, I could relate to it a lot. It also gives interesting perspective on the gang/drug scene. The narrative is well structured, interesting and I liked that Moore found himself and gained confidence in the end.

His college essay in the conclusion is powerful. But I also don't like that the film's underlying idea is that a black kid's only way out of a bad neighborhood is to sell drugs and get involved with the gangs.

Dope is also a brilliant title, with its triple meaning and its definition in the beginning of the movie sets the stage for the events to come. It's mostly a very fun, engaging movie to watch with a very likable protagonist.