If last week's Irish box office stormer Straight Outta Compton has left you jonesing to get back into that particular borough, might we point you towards neighbouring Inglewood, the host 'hood for tremendous new teen comedy, Dope?
Merrily toppling every teen movie stereotype you can think of, this Forest Whitaker and Pharrell Williams-produced joint concerns a group of 1990s hip-hop obsessed black nerds: Malcolm (the charismatic Shameik Moore), Jib (Tony Revolori) and the transsexual Diggy (Kiersey Clemons).
Growing up in a place where dreams of attending an Ivy League college are met with allegations of arrogance and such dismissals as “Niggers don’t go to college unless they play ball”, Malcolm remains, determined, despite the odds, to get into Harvard. Unhappily, a series of unfortunate encounters with a local drug dealer leaves the trio in possession of a weapon and a stash of drugs.
Can the loud-shirted, old-school-loving nerds outfox the villains without sullying a lifetime of good grades? Well, nerds are smart, after all.
There are some lovely, early establishing character details in Dope: the gang looks to now-ancient episodes of Yo! MTV Raps for fashion tips, Diggy has to endure fellow churchgoers attempting to "Pray the gay away" every Sunday and a school essay Malcolm proudly bills as, "If deGrasse Tyson was writing about Ice Cube this is what he would write".
The setting and these traits – including Diggy's slippery sexuality – ensure that Dope never becomes just another laddish adventure pivoting around a bag of drugs.
The film was more than warmly received at the Cannes Film Festival where it closed the Director’s Fortnight. That’s only fair. How many other fun, pro-intellectual teen capers can you name?
