If you watch a lot of films, you develop an instinct for what is happening behind the camera. Some films -- heck, most films -- are all about the money, the box office, the payoff.

Not so with auteur Rick Famuyiwa's DOPE. Running at an overlong 1:45, you sense that money might have been the last thing on this writer/director's mind when he crafted the script; created some of the most endearing characters in modern film; carefully snuck into the dialog his puns, life lessons and bon mots; extracted top performances from his team; and ultimately created an experience that more "overwhelms" the viewer with images and ideas than "overpowers."

I liked it. I really liked it. But I go out of my way to catch films that most mainstream viewers don't, because film as a medium fascinates me.

The other IMDb members have done some great reviews and I don't want to repeat what has been said.

I do want to add this: technically the film is almost perfect. There is nothing obviously wrong with any scene, trope, performance ... it all works. And passion? There is tons of passion, nicely hidden in the script, obvious only in the way the film alternates back and forth between fast noisy action, and contemplative self-absorbed scenes of the type you would be more likely to find in a Woody Allen picture. Even with voice-over.

It has everything but pacing -- and that is the critical flaw. Famuyiwa tried so hard to cram so much into DOPE that the film lacks internal rhythm. By the very end, the viewer, while appreciative of the characters and the story, is pretty much lost.

One hopes that in his next project Famuyiwa will pay more attention to the viewers and less to his own "bucket list" of things he wants to cram into the story.

In that way, what starts as merely good ... could be great.

Malcolm is a geek in The Bottoms, a gang-infested neighborhood in Inglewood, CA. He's a straight A student and lives the 90s hip hop culture along with his friends Jib and lesbian Diggy. They are often picked on at school. Street drug dealer Dom gets Malcolm to invite Nakia (Zoë Kravitz) to his birthday party. Malcolm falls for Nakia. The party is raided by the police. Dom stuffs his drug and gun in Malcolm's backpack. Malcolm and his friends get hounded for this package as Malcolm tries to get into Harvard.

I love Malcolm and his friends. I root for them. They're sex obsessed like every high school movie teen. They're also pretty dumb at times. Jaleel is bool. His bit is hilarious. Same goes for Will Sherwood and the n-word. What I love coming from Rick Famuyiwa is the unexpected diversion from the standard tropes. I am a little uncertain about Malcolm breaking down the 4th wall to express the dichotomy of the two characteristic ideals. On the one hand, it's way too on-the-nose. The movie does a perfectly good job without that scene. On the other hand, he may want to hit that point especially hard and not want the audience to miss it.

"Dope" is an American 100-minute film from last year that received a great deal of awards recognition. Then again, this also includes ceremonies like the Black Reel Awards, who shut out actors and filmmakers because of their ethnicities, so it should not be taken too seriously. This film here was written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa and features (in the face of discussions on diversity) an almost entirely Black (African American) cast. Unfortunately, not many of these actors proved they have the talent for big screen characters. And same goes for the filmmaker here. Famuyiwa started solidly, but quickly the film turned into a mess. Characters were unrealistically over-the-top or very uninteresting. The humor relied on people vomiting into the faces of other people. Haha. Very funny. Not. Lead actor received lots of praise, but I thought he was nothing special and the only thing memorable about him is his haircut here. Not a lot of range to see. Also he was supposed to be a likable character I guess, but his performance actually resulted in the opposite, even if the script also did not help. Finally, what I wrote about the characters, does also apply to the plot and action in general. The filmmaker really needs a lesson in subtlety as this film tried so hard to be entertaining at times that it clearly went over the top and had little to offer in terms of convincing and realistic story. Also the target group of this film becomes pretty clear as all White guys in this film are depicted as unlikeable. With all I mean the 3 or 4 who had more screen-time than a minute. But people who vomit other people in the face should be seen as likable love interests? I don't think so. Not a good film at all. Stay away.