Movie Review - Dope

Dope (2015)

Starring Shameik Moore, Tony Revolori, Kiersey Clemons, Zoë Kravitz, A$AP Rocky, Keith Stanfield, and Kimberly Elise

Directed by Rick Famuyiwa

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

Dope starts out quite clever, amusingly smart and engaging -- there's seriously a joke about Neil de Grasse Tyson and Ice Cube that lands so humorously in the first few minutes that my hopes went sky high.  While director-screenwriter Rick Famuyiwa's flick doesn't quite maintain its momentum after some great opening moments, Dope still provides a rather unique glimpse at African American culture.

Malcolm (Shamiek Moore) is a high school senior growing up in Inglewood, CA.  Obsessed with 90s rap culture, Malcolm also finds himself getting trashed on by other students for liking "white stuff" like skateboards, comics, "TV on the Radio," getting good grades, and applying for college.  It's that last "white thing" that's prominently on Malcolm's mind when the film opens.  Desperate to head to Harvard, things are going rather swimmingly for Malcolm until he's convinced by his friends and fellow geeks Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) to attend the birthday party of drug dealer Dom (A$AP Rocky) at a popular club.  Malcolm obliges in part because he knows that Dom's on-again/off-again girlfriend Nakia (Zoë Kravitz) will be there and Malcolm hopes to make an impression despite the fact that he's not exactly adept with the ladies.  However, the party gets raided by the police and Dom hides his stash of dope in Malcolm's backpack unbeknown to the high schooler, leading to a chaotic series of events that turns Malcolm's life upside down.

While Dope maintains its insightful humor throughout, I could't help but think that it lost a little bit of its original point of view once Malcolm becomes an unwitting drug dealer.  Directorially, Famuyiwa always keeps things sly, both visually and story-wise, and he gets some great performances out of his three main cast members.  Shameik Moore, in particular, is a fresh-faced newcomer who more than carries the film with his exuding of both intelligence and street smarts, and Tony Revolori and Kiersey Clemons (the latter, a sassy tomboy lesbian) add authenticity to the proceedings.  Beyond this trio, however, the film finds itself teetering a little bit, unsure of whether it wants to stay based in reality or go a little over-the-top and whenever it veers towards the latter, I found myself disappointed and removed from the story.  Still, Dope's aesthetic and main performances provide a unique experience that I wish was a bit more carefully executed throughout.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - For Colored Girls

For Colored Girls (2010)

Starring Janet Jackson, Kerry Washington, Kimberly Elise, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Thandie Newton, Loretta Devine, and Whoopi Goldberg

Directed by Tyler Perry

All throughout For Colored Girls, I kept trying to will myself to enjoy it.  I was witnessing some stellar performances from Kerry Washington, Kimberly Elise, Anika Noni Rose, and Phylicia Rashad, and I wanted to like this movie so I could recommend others to watch it solely to see these underused actresses.  Unfortunately, Tyler Perry has written and directed a ridiculously melodramatic movie, forcing his onscreen talent to take part in an epic and, at times, laughable misandry fest.

Based on a play which apparently is a series of poetic readings, Perry has crafted very loose interweaving stories that, I'd assume, relate to the original source material.  There's a lovely young dance instructor (Anika Noni Rose) who meets a seemingly charming guy only to discover he may not be such a great catch.  We move onto her young student who gets pregnant and heads to a back alley in the city to get an abortion (doesn't she know that in this day and age, my tax dollars support Planned Parenthood which can certainly show her the nearest clinic).  That girl's sister is a sex addict (and is played by the ridiculously over-the-top Thandie Newton) and she lives next door to Phylicia Rashad who is essentially playing the same voice of reason she played on The Cosby Show.  In the apartment next to Mrs. Cosby is an abused mother (Kimberly Elise) who stays with her army veteran husband who became insane after his stint in Iraq despite the repeated harm he causes her and her children.  That woman works for Janet Jackson who plays a magazine editor with only one overarching characteristic -- cold bitch.  Her husband is cheating on her...with another man.  This insanity just goes on and on.  Couple these ridiculous stories with actresses who are forced, mid-scene, to suddenly break into poetry.  What they were saying may have been lovely, but I couldn't help but laugh.  What are probably beautiful words about the plight of women (which I assume are written by the original playwright) are pigeonholed in between some of the silliest dialog out there (which I assume is written by Tyler Perry).

Somehow, shocking as it is, I was kind of drawn in to the awfulness of the whole affair.  It come awfully close to the so bad it's good realm, but never quite gets there.  The reason it never achieves that lofty goal is that there are too many good performances here and they, unfortunately, make the bad ones look really godawful.  Kerry Washington is actually quite lovely as a social worker set to look into the case of Kimberly Elise's abused wife.  Washington and Elise actually have moments of brilliance here and it's a shame they're stuck in such a crappy film.  Same goes for Ms. Rashad who has a presence that is felt throughout the film even in scenes where she's just on the periphery.  Kudos also to Anika Noni Rose whose character goes through quite a change with shocking believability.  She's also helped by the fact that the scene that "transforms" her is also one of the few moments in which Mr. Perry shows a vague hint that he knows how to utilize a camera to tell a story.

And it's all a shame because those four roles are pitted against the painful silliness of Thandie Newton who apparently can only express frustration through screaming.  Of course, she is playing the daughter of Whoopi Goldberg's character who also overacts to the nth degree.  Pit that against the one-note Janet Jackson who only knows stone-cold sternness as a facial expression and those leading ladies who did a great job get overshadowed by the weaker ones.

In the end, despite the rating below, it may be worth a Netflix instant watch should it ever pop up simply to see some of the great performances, but, in the end, it still proves that Tyler Perry is not the talent that his high box office grosses would make one think he is.

The RyMickey Rating: D+