OVERVIEW: From Grammy® Award winner Pharrell Williams and Academy Award® winner Forest Whitaker comes a fresh and fun coming-of-age comedy Dope, debuting on Digital HD on September 29, 2015 and on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack and DVD on October 13, 2015, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Nominated for the coveted Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, the film is a fresh and funny foray into contemporary urban life that Rolling Stone calls “Irresistible, freewheeling fun!” and Marlow Stern of The Daily Beast says is “Nothing short of intoxicating.” Featuring an old-school soundtrack plus four new original songs by Pharrell Williams, the Dope Blu-ray™ and DVD are loaded with awesome bonus features for fans to enjoy.

SYNOPSIS: Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a straight-A high-school senior into old-school rap who finds himself in the middle of an adventure involving shady drug dealers, offbeat weirdos and a backpack that can make or break his chance of getting into Harvard. Also starring hip-hop talent A$AP Rocky, Blake Anderson (“Workaholics”), Zoë Kravitz (Divergent), Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), rapper Tyga and supermodel Chanel Iman, Dope is “vibrant and entertaining” (Boyd van Hoeij, The Hollywood Reporter).

FILM REVIEW: “DOPE” (or better yet, Nerdz 'N the Hood) is a comical 90’s inspired coming of age adventure: Think “Superbad’ meets “Friday” or “Half-Baked,” with writer-director Rick Famuyiwa who brought us 2002’s “Brown Sugar,” now trying his hand at what appears to be on the surface, as just another knockoff of a typical urban-themed teen movie infused with drugs, rap and gangs, etc. And though each of those elements are present here, you would be little surprised to know that it does present some dazzling, smart, fresh and original material. It’s not unique by any means in concept, but this coming-of-age comedy pops off the screen and bursts with energy, partly due to a terrific cast right down the line to its narrator Forest Whitaker, who is also a producer with Nina Lang Bongiovi. Then there’s a great soundtrack with new songs from likes of Pharrell Williams and others. Famuyiwa also fills the screen with inventive directorial touches that keeps the film from being just another chaotic paced teen gang flick.

The story seems to bring a little deeper substance than its pop culture throwback shell, featuring high school characters with complexity and authenticity played by a trio of amazing young up and coming actors. Relatively newcomer Shameik Moore gives a breakout performance as Malcolm, while we get to see more of the wildly talented Tony Revolori, probably best known as Zero from Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel. Cutie, Zoe Kravitz (Divergence, 2015) delivers on all levels and balances the quality of the performances quite well.

Overall, “DOPE” is somewhat original in its approach while being typical for the most part and is well directed from start to finish, with a few flaws along the way that causes the story to drag at times. It’s a story that encounters several socioeconomic issues, with few dull moments at times, but with the humor that correlates with all the dramatic scenes. If the story was tweaked a bit to suit the masses, I would imagine that it could gain better ratings, but for now, I think three out of five stars is well deserved here and though it’s a pretty good flick, I would not encourage anyone to spend the money on a theater visit, but more like a RedBox rental. 

BLU-RAY: The film is presented in widescreen in a 2.40:1 aspect ration preserving its theatrical format. The picture is just flawless. Not only the picture looks great in this release, also the sound it is good, a 5.1 Dolby Digital in English that provides a good complement to the picture. It also includes  English, French  and Spanish subtitles.

VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.40:1) 16x9

AUDIO:
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Dolby Digital 2.0, French, German, Castilian Spanish, L.A. Spanish

Subtitles -  English SDS, French and Spanish Subtitles

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Blu-ray™ unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring 6X the picture resolution of DVD, exclusive extras and theater-quality surround sound.

DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing movies in more places, both at home and away.

DIGITAL HD with UltraViolet™ lets fans watch movies anywhere on their favorite devices. Users can instantly stream or download.

Dope Is Different – The cast and crew discuss the film’s central characters and themes of being unique and authentic.

Dope Music - Pharrell Williams, A$AP Rocky, Rick Fumuyiwa and others delve into the essential role old-school rap and punk rock tracks play in the film.