Screened as part of NZIFF 2015

Dope 2015

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa Fresh

Three high school geeks, obsessed with 90s hip-hop, get into risky business with molly moving gangstas in this fast, funny LA street comedy, featuring a star-making performance from the charismatic Shameik Moore.

Jul 28

Event Cinemas Queen Street

Jul 31

The Civic

USA In English
115 minutes CinemaScope / DCP

Director, Screenplay

Producers

Nina Yang Bongiovi
,
Forest Whitaker

Photography

Rachel Morrison

Editor

Lee Haugen

Production designer

Scott Falconer

Costume designer

Patrik Milani

Music

Pharrell Williams
,
Germaine Franco

With

Shameik Moore (Malcolm)
,
Tony Revolori (Jib)
,
Kiersey Clemons (Diggy)
,
Kimberly Elise (Lisa Hayes)
,
Chanel Iman (Lily)
,
Tyga (De’Andre)
,
Blake Anderson (Will)
,
Zoë Kravitz (Nakia)
,
A$AP Rocky (Dom)

Awards

Editing Award (US Dramatic)
,
Sundance Film Festival 2015

Festivals

Sundance
,
Cannes (Directors’ Fortnight) 2015

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH

George FM

“Looking for a comedy that’s just energetic and goofy and flat-out fun? Keep an eye out for Dope, which manages to put a lighthearted spin on the adventures of Inglewood kids who are trying to avoid being shot and killed by drug dealers. A hip-hop update of Risky Business for the era of Bitcoin and viral memes, Rick Famuyiwa’s fourth feature focuses on Malcolm (Shameik Moore), a high school geek who’s intent on getting into Harvard. His attempt to broker a liaison between a local dealer (A$AP Rocky) and a studious neighborhood girl (Zoë Kravitz) results in a series of misadventures that find him and his dorky friends in possession of a large quantity of MDMA and pursued by gun-wielding gangstas, forcing them to improvise a solution using their expertise with the Internet.

Dope is so current in many respects that it risks looking dated down the road – people won’t be posting image macros featuring text in the Impact font forever – but Famuyiwa craftily deflects the issue by making his characters obsessed with the 90s, to the point where Malcolm even sports a hi-top fade and dresses like he’s on In Living Color. The film does have a message, involving the desire not to be categorized and dismissed due to one’s background or interests, but nothing so breezy could possibly come off as preachy.” — Mike D’Angelo, The Dissolve

“There was no way an infectiously entertaining, twisty-turny punk-comedy- thriller wasn’t going to stand out [at Sundance]. But that it somehow manages to be all that while also offering a savvy look at race and achievement in our hyperconnected age? Boom.” — Bilge Ebiri, New York 

Screening With This Feature