DOPE Teaser Trailer Celebrates One of Sundance's Biggest Hits

Writer-director Rick Famuyiwa's Dope made a big splash at this year's Sundance Film Festival, where Elijah raved about it in his review, calling it a "fast-paced gem that takes the typical coming-of-age high-school comedy and masterfully weaves in the kind of visual flair and storytelling devices normally only found in heist movies." A trailer for the movie hit the web about a month ago, but apparently that was unauthorized because the studio quickly took it down. Now Open Road has unveiled the movie's first official teaser through Apple, and it does exactly what an excellent teaser should do: gives you a great sense of the movie's tone.

This is actually one of the most unconventional teasers I've seen in a while, and I love the way it incorporates video games, '90s rap, and Internet culture since those are clearly topics the main characters are obsessed with. This looks like a must-see movie for me, and I'll be interested to hear what you all think about this teaser. Dope opens in theaters on June 19th.

Malcolm is a high school geek with a high-top fade, carefully navigating life in The Bottoms, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Inglewood, California. He and his fellow outcasts share a voracious appreciation for all things ’90s hip-hop, opting to sport Cross-Colours and Z. Cavariccis at the risk of being clowned at school. He dreams of attending Harvard, but first he has to make it home every day. When a drug dealer takes a shine to Malcolm and invites him to his birthday party, Malcolm’s crew is swirled into a hilarious blender of offbeat characters and bad choices where redemption can only be found in Bitcoin.

Writer/director Rick Famuyiwa delivers an energetic, super-fresh, modern-day coming-of-age story that is a delightful mash-up of DIY punk, Yo! MTV Raps, YouTube, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Intelligent and full of heart, Dope is an up-to-date inspirational tale of the journey to maintain a grasp on one’s own authentic self amidst surreal circumstances.