Last night I had the pleasure of seeing an advanced screening of the movie Dope. One sentence review? Dope is Dope as Fuck.

First, Dope is not set in the nineties but the leading character’s obsession with the era is displayed in their dress, way of talk, and the music that they love to listen to. The music led by Pharell Williams is definitely one of the best film soundtracks that I’ve heard in a very long while. Both the 90s hits and the original songs added to the Dopeness of this film.

Dope is a fast paced comedy reminiscent of The Wood, which was also directed by Rick Famuwiya, which tells the tale of three high school seniors; Malik, Diggy, and Jib and their epic adventure when they get mixed up with the wrong crowd.

The three teens who self identify as 90s obsessed geeks, have a punk band, and are all on the fast track to ivy league universities with straight A’s and high SAT scores are nothing like the inhabitants of their neighborhood. Their primary goals are to make it out of the hood alive with no arrest records. After Malik meets and develops a crush on a neighborhood drug dealers girlfriend Kia (played by the beautiful Zoe Kravitz), the three best friends are invited to a party, subsequently sucked into the drama of their neighborhood, and end up being forced to sale a large amount of Ecstacy in order to pay back the neighborhood kingpin. They team up with a computer hacker friend who teaches them to sell the drugs on the internet’s black market and the fun ensues.

Adding to the awesomeness of Dope is the fact that this film is not your typical coming of age drama, though these teens are forced to play a deadly game they play it their way which is both hilarious and brilliant, the social commentary including a discussion on who can say the N word (white people you can’t, just stop already) and the realization that Ivy League educations don’t always lead to greatness. The characters aren’t one dimensional and the portrayal of each shows you that people are a lot more than you ever think they are on the surface.

I almost forgot to mention how dope the cast was, be prepared for some great cameos including Tyga and ASAP Rocky who shocked me with his portrayal as the head of the neighborhood drug dealer. Like the main characters his character had a lot more depth and made you question how people end up in the positions they obtain in life.

I would not only pay to see this film again but I plan to own it when it’s released to purchase. Go see it and tell me what you think.

I was not paid for this review and all trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.