Review of Dope (2015) by Zachary Y — 19 Jun 2015

Really enjoyed this coming of age tale about a high school senior named Malcolm (Shameik Moore) who isn't like a normal kid. Along with his friends Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kierysey Clemons) they break the norm of the kids in LA.

They consider themselves geeks, get good grades, want to go to college, have a deep love for the 90's and hip hop. Malcolm and his friends end up at Dom (A$AP Rocky) a drug dealers, party one night.

Malcolm is infatuated with the lovely Nakia (Zoe Kravitz) after unsuccessfully getting at her the party ends in a hail of gun fire. During the escape from the party Malcolm soon realizes he has a backpack full of dope.

Soon enough he has thugs chasing his friends and him throughout the city. It's up to Malcolm to find out what to do with the drugs and finally realize through this journey who he is himself. There's actually quite a bit more to the film than this, but there's kind of a twist halfway through that I don't want to spoil.

I really enjoyed the film. It's shot beautifully, has some great performances by the young actors and it has a great message. We find Malcolm at a point in life where he's not sure what he really is.

He identifies with a certain kind of culture because of his likes while other identify him because of his skin color. Malcolm is still so unique and it takes this wild crazy adventure for him to fully realize what makes him.

..him. It's a great message to kids these days about individuality and also about overcoming things through hard work and realization...sort of like not lying to yourself to get through a problem. Overall, I liked this little indie film and recommend people give it a look it has a great mixture of drama and comedy!