The Review: Dope

Dope 4/10

This will have spoilers. Two of my cousins have been suggestion that I watch this movie Dope for a long time. I finally decided to partially because this chick I think is cute but too young for me to be looking at was in it. This is about a group of three kids named Malcolm played by Shameik Moore, Jib, played by Tony Revolori, and Diggy played by Kiersey Clemons. They are considered geeks that play music that I would never listen to in a band but for some reason love 90's hip hop and culture. Malcolm wants to go to Harvard but the 'hood wants him to stay. You know the story. Its every story in a film about Black neighborhoods.

Malcolm ends up liking this girl played by Zoe Kravitz. A thug likes her too. He ends up in a club with this thug and girl and his backpack is filled with drugs during a shootout. After almost being tricked by some gang members he is told by someone that he has to now sell all of these drugs he has. Madness ensues. Gun violence, drugs parties, chases, whatever. This movie just felt like a lot of lazy writing at times, odd sequences, the pacing was off, and I liked this much better when it was called Go in 1999. If you liked this movie then you'd love that one.

The main character in this isn't someone I wanted to win. He is someone I wouldn't have hung out with in the 90's and the type of folks that I don't like in 2016. This just felt disingenuous while at the same time trying hard to prove that it is. The moral of this story is that if you want to get what you want you have to become the enemy. Sell drugs, pull a gun on the guys that steal your shoes, and blackmail the guy that can help advance you in life. Yeah. None of this has the potential to bite him in the ass later. Hope someone is watching his mom's back when he is at Harvard.

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