Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie

DOPE

Three black kids end up dealing drugs to their friends except these studious, musical, Donald Glover-loving teens only got in this whole mess through a lot of happenstance and one party gone wrong. Dope subverts racial stereotypes (the trio’s band name is, cheekily, “Oreo”) and the John Hughes formula, even as it acknowledges and adheres to them. It’s smart and sharp, well attuned to the technological age of social media and Bitcoin, and unexpectedly buoyed by Pharrell-produced music. Unfortunately, the hyperactive pace of the beginning, where jokes fly out by the minute, subsides for a slower, moral message-heavy ending.

Opens in wide release June 19

INSIDE OUT

Eleven-year-old Riley and her family are uprooting their happy, stable lives in Minnesota and moving to California. Inside her head, however, things are a little less cut-and-dry. Inside Out may well be one of Pixar’s finest movies, ever. Focusing on personifications of Riley’s emotions — Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust — as they regulate her personality, Pixar touches upon deeper issues of depression and the realities of growing up, even as it soars to new comedic heights. The film is a visual feast, relishing in its psychedelic depiction of the human mind, complete with ventures into cubism and Hollywood. It’s complex but never confusing.

Opens in wide release June 19

SAYA-ZAMURAI

Disgraced samurai Kanjuro is sentenced to seppuku — unless he can make the grieving son of his lord laugh within 30 days. And so the film takes us through all 30 of those days, as Kanjuro attempts increasingly outlandish setups to get the boy to crack a smile. And soon, Kanjuro’s ashamed daughter, all the townsfolk and the lord realize they really want to see him succeed. Granted, culture-specific humor doesn’t always translate well. The Japanese penchant for absurdity and context-dependent laughs may befuddle American audiences here. But if you can get behind the Asian love of sight gags, deadpan humor and pratfalls, you’ll love this.

Plays at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. June 21; noon, 4 and 8 p.m. June 25; and noon, 4:30 and 9 p.m. June 26 at the Movie Museum