Seen at...
Dope
- Director: Rick Famuyiwa
- Writer: Rick Famuyiwa
- Producer: Nina Yang Bongiovi; Erica Brady
CGiii Comment
"If I was white, would you even have to ask me that question?"
The line that killed the film.
If you take away the stereotypes, delete the exaggerated use of the 'N' word, re-write the script within the confines of plausibility...what would you be left with? Something a damn sight better than this misconceived, rambling catastrophe.
The message is drearily tiresome and crystal clear...the only way out of the Hood is to sell drugs...even if you are graced with a functioning brain - there's no escaping it...you simply become a better dealer.
Yes...Harvard graduates become hardcore dealers...and, they mentor kids to follow in their footsteps...we're not making this up - it's in the film.
Whatever happened to the American Dream...it seems that the land of opportunity stops at the Hood's boundaries...is there some kind of invisible fence with invisible checkpoints that contain the residents? This film seems to think so.
Spike Lee did it all - only better - years ago. Famuyiwa really has nothing new to say and if this film is his contribution to the great 'social mobility' debate...then, God help us all.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
A coming of age comedy/drama for the post hip hop generation. Malcolm is a geek, carefully surviving life in The Bottoms, a tough neighborhood in Inglewood, CA filled gangsters and drugs dealers, while juggling his senior year of college applications, interviews and the SAT. His dream is to attend Harvard. A chance invitation to a big underground party leads Malcolm and his friends into a, only in Los Angeles, gritty adventure filed with offbeat characters and bad choices. If Malcolm can persevere, he'll go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.
Cast & Characters
Zo? Kravitz as Nakia;
Forest Whitaker as Narrator;
Blake Anderson as Will;
Rick Fox as Councilman Blackmon;
Kimberly Elise as Lisa Hayes;
Tony Revolori as Jib;
Keith Stanfield as Bug;
Kiersey Clemons as Diggy;
Michael Flores as Short order cook;
Roger Guenveur Smith as Austin Jacoby