Dope

For those readers whose slang vocabulary begins with YOLO and ends with "whatever the fuck they're calling MDMA these days" (to borrow a line from the current season of True Detective), the new movie, Dope, helpfully opens with the multiple definitions of its title.

You see, not only does 'dope' refer to a foolish individual or a certain kind of narcotic but during the '90s it was the word you dropped when something was truly surpassing. If something was really good, it was dope.

Naturally enough, writer-director Rick Famuyiwa's film incorporates all three definitions. Okay, maybe not so much doltishness but there are definitely drugs and certainly '90s nostalgia. And it all coalesces into a messy and haphazard but undeniably entertaining movie that throws a lot into the mix to rowdy, ramshackle effect.

Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a teenage African-American nerd living in the hard-knock LA area of Inglewood. His interest in '90s hip hop — symbolised by his high-top fade hairstyle — marks him as something of an outsider and a target for bullies, but he has plans to move up and out by gaining entry to Harvard once he graduates high school.

That gets derailed when Malcolm attends a party that turns into a gunfight and he finds that local dealer Dom (A$AP Rocky) has stashed a couple of bricks of dope in his backpack. With everyone wanting to get their hands on it, Malcolm and his friends have to find a way to unload it without getting busted or killed.

Sounds kinda harsh, yes? Well, one of Dope's main virtues is how cleverly it acknowledges the high stakes of Malcolm's situation while telling a loose, funky coming-of-age story. Balancing the tones of Boyz N The Hood and Risky Business is no easy task, but Dope pulls it off with intelligence, freshness and spunk.