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Alpha Dog (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 136
Fresh: 76
Rotten:60
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Consensus: A glossy yet unflinching portrait of violent, hedonistic teenagers. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone chew the scenery, while Justin Timberlake gives a noteworthy performance.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for pervasive drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Jan 12, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $15,133,185
Synopsis: A difficult gestation period led to Nick Cassavetes's ALPHA DOG being delayed and facing possible legal battles after the real-life subject of the film (alleged kidnapper and murderer Jesse James... A difficult gestation period led to Nick Cassavetes's ALPHA DOG being delayed and facing possible legal battles after the real-life subject of the film (alleged kidnapper and murderer Jesse James Hollywood) objected to his portrayal. The cinematic version of Hollywood is named Johnny Truelove and played by Emile Hirsch (LORDS OF DOGTOWN). Truelove is a wild 18-year-old who deals drugs for a living and hangs out with his posse, who revolve around a core of Frankie (Justin Timberlake), Elvis (Shawn Hatosy), and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). When a client of Truelove's, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster), is unable to pay off his crystal-meth debt, the group kidnaps his 15-year-old stepbrother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), who becomes a Patty Hearst-like accomplice in his own abduction. Indeed, Zack positively revels in his new position, and lives it up with the boys at every opportunity he gets. But Cassavetes's film really revs into gear as the cops close in on Truelove's band of outsiders, and they face a tough decision about what to do with Zack. The real draw here is Justin Timberlake, and he makes a decent job of his role as a bodyguard/friend to the kidnapped kid. Covered in tattoos and oozing testosterone, Timberlake revels in his role, and his female following will find plenty to gush over here. The film itself is executed at a lightning-fast pace, with quick jump cuts and on-screen captions that point out who the witnesses in the case were. Cassavetes plays around with split-screen techniques and nonlinear storytelling, but he remains acutely aware of what his young target audience is seeking from a modern crime drama, not letting the tension drop for a second. Small roles for Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis provide suitable support to the young cast, and a thumping rap and metal soundtrack supplies a perfect backdrop to the explosive on-screen shenanigans. [More]
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Sharon Stone, Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis, Anton Yelchin, Lukas Haas, Shawn Hatosy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ben Foster, Dominique Swain, Alexandra Cassavetes, Olivia Wilde
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Director: Nick Cassavetes
Screenwriter: Nick Cassavetes
Composer: Aaron Zigman
Producer: Sidney Kimmel, Chuck Pacheco
Studio: Universal Pictures
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Reviews for Alpha Dog
Cassavetes' film is pure Hollywood fiction and sensationalism mixed with some sense of reality, but hell I enjoyed it a great deal...
Stylishly and thoughtfully directed by Nick Cassavetes, Alpha Dog is occasionally chilling, but always absorbing.
Its originality lies in the fact that it depicts white middle-class kids on the loose, calling their women bitches and listening endlessly to violent, misogynist and homophobic black rap.
Nick Cassavetes' film combines an aimless ramble through juvenile depravity in the affluent suburbs of LA and a quite disturbing evocation of the true-life murder of an adolescent boy in 1999.
It’s Beverly Hills 90210 on crystal meth as a gang of posh potheads lose the plot when a kidnapping goes wrong.
The movie may lose its way in the last 15 minutes but everything leading up to that point is gripping, edge-of-your-seat stuff.
Lengthy and often off-hot topic, this is still a gripping saga with stand-out turns from Timberlake, Hirsch and kid-in-the-spotlight Yelchin.
You know you’re in trouble the second you take a look at Bruce Willis’s fake liver spots.
Overall though, it's a messy, superficial affair: it lacks focus, shifts uneasily in tone, and shoehorns in star names (Sharon Stone, Bruce Willis) to little effect.
True, Alpha Dog is a film with no manners. But it has great nerve. What’s truly impressive is how the splintered story is buried by individual performances.
Worth seeing for Stone's grotesque bow and some great youthful performances. But it's not half as gritty as it thinks it is.
It suffers from ADD, but there’s some terrific stuff in here. Leaving 15 minutes from the end and saving yourself a lumbering coda may improve enjoyment.
Emotionally engaging, impressively directed and frequently tense drama with strong performances from a terrific ensemble cast.
A movie which has been put together with occasional skill but lacks a compelling reason to exist.
Cassavetes uses a wide arsenal of flashy techniques...but his stylistic fourishes and some committed performances cannot disguise a certain emptiness where there should be tragedy.
Cassavetes, first and foremost, made Alpha Dog a great ensemble piece, a decision that really distinguishes the film from its lesser teenage crime counterparts.
As it happens, not all dogs to to heaven. Some go straight to hell, and Alpha Dog gets there faster and stays there longer than most.
The film's most resonant insight%u2014not a new one%u2014is that the boys' mutual violence and abuse form a sort of intimacy. No matter what else they miss, they understand their own fearfulness and disloyalty.
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