I’ve spent four years writing about life as a black nerd and analyzing pop culture through that lens, and now the moment of truth is here.
After being the joy of Sundance, Rick Famuyiwa’s teen comedy-drama Dope has been released upon the masses.
Dope stars the engaging Shameik Moore as Malcolm, the ’90s hip-hop-obsessed geek who’s down with computer coding, skateboarding, his punk band, perfect SAT scores and Harvard dreams while trying to survive life in the ’hood known as The Bottoms in Inglewood, Calif.
The chemistry between Malcolm and his friends, the polyracial geek Jib (Tony Revolori) and butch lesbian Diggy (Kiersey Clemons), feels honest, natural and provides some good comedy in the way you expect from teen movies.
The movie revels in its blerd bona fides: ’90s nostalgia, indie black artists, feeling not black enough for the cool kids in high school. Pharrell Williams throws in original songs, Forest Whitaker provides narration, Sean “Diddy” Combs is an executive producer.
So why, when the lights came back on, did I just not dig this movie?
I’m torn. I really am. I wanted to like Dope a lot. It has so much going for it, and so much I didn’t care for. Most likely I need to see it again, but as of now I don’t know what to make of it.
Part of it may be that Dope feels like a few different movies rolled into one, and they don’t all fit.
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