(2007, 118 min) Alpha Dog is based on a true story concerning former fugitive Jesse James Hollywood – played as Johnny Truelove by Emile Hirsch. Truelove leads of gang of privileged young white kids (namely Justin Timberlake and Shawn Hatosy) who earn a decent amount of pocket cash in petty drug transactions. The group emulates the indulgent criminal lifestyle glorified and glamorized in hip-hop videos that loop in the background of their spacious Los Angeles living rooms. They bite off much more than they can chew when they spontaneously kidnap 15-year-old Zach (Anton Yelchin) over a $1,200 debt owed by his older brother (Ben Foster). With no intentions of causing Zach harm, they allow him to party with older kids and introduce him to two lovely young blondes who take his virginity. Things take a major turn for the worse, however, when the gang members become cognizant of the fact that their prank could feasibly result in life imprisonment.
The fact that the offspring of John Cassavetes has been chiefly responsible for Hollywood schlock like John Q and The Notebook is enough to greatly confuse just about any cinephile – especially when considering that his first two films (Unhook the Stars and She's So Lovely) showed promise that he might follow in his father’s seminal footsteps. Alpha Dog, Nick Cassavetes's fifth directorial effort, suggests that he is walking a fine line between meaningful and carelessly commercial material. Though it is recognized primarily as a vehicle for pop-idol Timberlake, it attempts to take an unflinching look at the impression that the fame and fortune-obsessed media has left on much of the younger MTV generation.
Though a structural device where characters are interviewed about the aftermath of the story's events is used inconsistently, and each member of the impressive ensemble (also included are Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone, Dominique Swain Amanda Seyfried, Lukas Haas and Harry Dean Stanton) is given much more screen time and overly dramatic dialog than their relevance to the plot would ordinarily allow, Alpha Dog does contain enough memorably affecting moments to redeem at least half of its flaws. Stand-out performances are delivered by Ben Foster and Anton Yelchin. Foster masters the Stanislavski system to convey the intensity of drug-addled anger and frustration while Yelchin steals the entire show with a hopeful innocence and naïveté that is bound to generate more than a few tears.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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