The buzziest title out of the Sundance Film Festival so far seems to be Dope from writer/director Rick Famuyiwa (Brown Sugar, The Wood) with a cast that includes Shameik Moore (pictured above), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Kiersey Clemons, Blake Anderson, Zoe Kravitz (Divergent), A$AP Rocky, Keith Stanfield (Short Term 12) and Forest Whitaker who narrates and also serves as producer.
Open Road picked up the film for distribution after this weekend’s first screening with stellar reviews. Here’s the synopsis:
Malcolm (Moore) is a high school geek with a high-top fade, carefully navigating life in The Bottoms, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Inglewood, California. He and his fellow outcasts share a voracious appreciation for all things ’90s hip-hop, opting to sport Cross-Colours and Z. Cavariccis at the risk of being clowned at school. He dreams of attending Harvard, but first he has to make it home every day. When a drug dealer takes a shine to Malcolm and invites him to his birthday party, Malcolm’s crew is swirled into a hilarious blender of offbeat characters and bad choices where redemption can only be found in Bitcoin.
Over at Huffington Post, we get this description of what you can expect and it makes me want to see this one even more:
There is something genius about setting a coming-of-age comedy in 2014 and making the main characters obsessed with ’90s hip-hop. You get the best of both worlds: the pop culture references, Bitcoin, iPhones and YouTube — paired with the flyest ’90s wardrobe a teenager could ask for, a soundtrack featuring NWA, Easy E, Snoop Dogg and, most important, the perfect flattop.
Can’t wait, check out the teaser trailer and one more pic directly below.
