Dope proves that coming of age comedies are a weird batch. They cover everything from ‘Kids’ to ‘Teen Wolf’, and let’s be honest, probably reached their zenith (or nadir if you prefer) back in the 80s. For the most part they were either a bit po-faced, à la ‘Stand By Me’ (man, I still love that Ben E. King soundtrack though), or a bit fluffy.
Maybe the kids lost their kid sister for an hour, or spent one kerrrazy summer trying to win a surfing competition, and maybe they learned a bit about life along the way. Hey dude, your parents aren’t so bad after all y’know?
So it’s a refreshing change to see a movie where the kids involved are actual, full-blown people. People who smoke, get bullied, jerk off, try to sneak into bars and are obsessed with having sex. You know, the way real teenagers are.
The problems faced in the movie start out relatively light. Malcolm and his two friends are geeks in a tough Compton high school, which means they have to cope with a daily gauntlet of bullies stealing their sneakers, and local crackheads trying to steal their BMX bikes.
First-time lead Shameik Moore does a great job here. he’s vulnerable and geeky but displays genuine vulnerability without slipping into cartoonish traits. You get the picture that here’s a kid who ‘should’ be into basketball and dealing, but is far more interested in lifting himself out of the local vicious circle by working hard, getting into a good college, and maybe listening to a few classic hip-hop mixtapes along the way.
Because plots demand it, events soon escalate. Our three heroes slip into a party so that Malcolm can meet a girl. Unfortunately it’s a drug dealer’s birthday party, which inevitably leads to a police raid. And even more inevitably leads to Malcolm being accidentally stuck with several kilos of MDMA belonging to a local Mr. Big.
This has great potential, and there’s some very funny chase scenes as local dealers get wind of the package and chase the kids around (using Find My iPhone to keep track of them), before an unlikely scheme involving a local stoner/hacker is hatched, shipping the gear online using BitCoin.
Director Rick Fumuyiwa displays a defter comedic touch than he has in the past, and the dialogue in particular often rings very true, but leaves just enough wiggle-room for one-liners to slip in. As the whole thing builds, it paints a fascinating picture of life in a notorious neighbourhood. Some of the actors are playing it just a little too broadly to convey genuine threat, but for the most part this is a fun hour and a half with laughs, some touching moments and the occasional hint of real danger (the shoot out in the cheese fries joint is a reminder of the ever present background layer of “you could actually die just for walking around Inglewood”).
Oh, and there’s a truly awesome soundtrack: Tribe Called Quest, Nas, LOLAWOLF, Public Enemy and more provide a mix of classic and new beats that fit excellently with the on-screen action, and although Pharell Williams provides some slightly over-produced songs for Malcolm and the gang’s supposedly amateur pop-punk high school band, damn if you won’t want to dig out some parachute pants and learn the Humpty Dance at the end of this.
It’s a fresh take on an old format and while it isn’t perfect, it’s a strong film with plenty to recommend it, and performances that push it into the ‘cult movie in the making’ category. Hunt it out. 4/5
Check out the rest of the latest cinema releases in our new film reviews section, including the social media nightmare Unfriended and a less successful look at youth in turmoil, Don’t Grow Up.
