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Shelf Beauties
by Willie Waffle
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Alpha
Dog
Based on the true story of
infamous California criminal Jesse James Hollywood (but, hopefully,
changed
enough to make sure he doesn’t make a penny off the movie),
Emile Hirsch stars
as Johnny Truelove – a drug dealing wannabe gangster running
roughshod over the
LA suburbs. He
leads a group of potheads
and morons who aimlessly live their lives alternately trying to impress
him and
decadently partying like there is no tomorrow.
One day, one of Johnny’s crew members,
Jake (Ben Foster), fails to collect
a debt, and it starts a war between the two.
In retaliation, Johnny kidnaps Jake’s
little brother, Zack (Anton
Yelchin), which leads to some wild times for the young kid, but the
danger
grows as he enjoys the party lifestyle.
How will Johnny and his gang
get out of all of this? Is
there a safe
ending for Zack?
Alpha Dog is a movie that
had some potential, and a very interesting real life angle to it, but
the film
is full of some of the worst overacting you will ever see. Foster, attempting to act
like a drug addled
psycho, becomes cartoonish instead of scary.
It feels like he is channeling Pauly
Shore
doing an Al Pacino impression as he tries to make the veins in his neck
and
forehead bulge in a sad attempt to show anger and rage.
Instead, the audience I saw the movie with
started to laugh. Then,
Justin
Timberlake, playing one of Truelove’s flunkies, acts like he
is in a comedy for
most of Alpha Dog, when this is supposed to be a
drama, so that doesn’t help
his burgeoning acting career. Finally,
Hirsch, who is one of the more talented younger actors working today,
is put in
a role that seems to be overshadowed by the secondary characters. He doesn’t get
enough of the spotlight to
make Alpha Dog worth watching.
Writer/director Nick
Cassavetes is the person who could have saved Alpha Dog, but fails.
He doesn’t set the tone early enough,
so Alpha Dog doesn’t feel
dangerous and serious enough until it is too late.
This is a kidnapping, and, while the people
involved on the screen might not appreciate the graveness of the
situation,
Cassavetes needs to acknowledge it to the audience, which has already
figured
that part out. Plus,
he is the one who
needs to reign in the young actors and make sure they don’t
over do it like we
see them do so.
Alpha Dog got the dog part
right.
1 Waffle (Out Of 4)
Alpha
Dog is
rated R for pervasive
drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity.
Copyright
2007 - WaffleMovies.com
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