It's Totally Dope, But it's Not

 As the title sequence appears with the 3 definitions, the word “dope” can mean different things depending on the context. Such is also the case with my title. You could say that I meant the film Dope was awesome, but it actually wasn't; or you could say that the film deals with a literally large amount of dope, but that it doesn't. I'm not here to tell you what you think I mean, and what's great is that Dope doesn't do that either. I could say how all these different running themes add up to a movie so much more about drugs, but I'd prefer to include a quote from later in the movie, “So, why do I want to go to Harvard? If I was white, would you even have to ask me that question?”

The film centers around Malcolm, a geek living in “the Bottoms” who has to deal with other black people asking him why he does all this white sh*t (it's a list I laughed really hard at... wait... yeah, that actually makes a lot of sense). Luckily for the movie, Shameik Moore brings everything to the table as Malcolm and propels the film even in its shakier moments. Sadly, his two best friends are just annoying to me, like their role is to be there as the two best friends and that's it, but they don't add the humor needed for the spots.

I couldn't help but think of Ferris Bueller's Day Off while watching this film, but it also has a weird style of editing. The flow of the movie is also reflected in the hippier sense of music that the characters love and adore, and I love it for the first half of the film, but as I will continue to say, the music lags later on.

Similar to the music, there is purpose, motivation, and style that sends Malcolm and his friends through unfamiliar territory in the first half. Then, there's a darker change-- not drastic, mind you, but still noticeable-- and I was about to write it off until it was almost redeemed by a clever way to bring the story around at the end. I say almost redeemed because there's still a subplot or two that didn't play off too well beforehand but was left untouched until the filmmakers realized, “Wait, we need to tie all of this back together!” It's like you served somebody a dessert one night that didn't turn out too well, but then you figured after it sat for a day or two the flavors would come together. But that didn't really happen. But I will say I do feel bad, for I am writing all this negative about the film, but in reality it only surmounts to a couple extra minutes in the film; so don't let these add-ons that didn't work detract from the overall thoughtful film.

To refer back to the beginning, yes, there is literal dope that is brought into the plot. But no, it's not The Wolf of Wall Street style where partying non-stop is the culture of the environment, for the film makes it quite clear (especially at the end) that it's actually quite the opposite. Do I think Dope was as dope as it could be? No, I don't. But for a low-budget film to surprise audiences with a movie that succeeds for about two-thirds of the running time, it's a pretty cool film. So, yes, it's totally Dope, but it also isn't quite.

My plan is still to do a movie that I could make comparisons to a book to, but I haven't read the book and have negative desire to do so. But I will review the film.