It is hard to judge Alpha Dog too harshly because I am not sure this is a movie many young actors could pull off. Acting like a tough guy when you are 21-year-old Emile Hirsch and you weigh 100 pounds soaking wet can’t be easy. Especially considering no one has probably been scared of this guy a day in their life and that isn’t changing after this flick.
Alpha Dog is reported to be based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a guy I am assuming I would be far more likely to be scared of, or at least his minions. With names changed to protect the current defendant, Hirsch plays Johnny Truelove, a drug dealer that finds himself on the FBI’s most wanted list after a botched kidnapping extortion scheme.
You see, Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) owes Truelove $1,200 and is yet to pay. As a result, Truelove and his gang kidnap Jake’s younger brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) and are using him as bait to get what’s owed. Unfortunately they didn’t account for the fact that kidnapping is illegal, even though Truelove’s friends grow to enjoy the kid’s company and Zack sees it as a few days away from his over-protective mother (Sharon Stone). As the hours tick by Truelove’s anxieties begin to grow as reality sets in and the story takes a turn into darkness.
While the movie is known to be based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood none of that information is used in promoting the film in any way, and the production notes are completely void of any mention of Hollywood or his ongoing case. So to say whether or not the story is accurate to true life is impossible, especially when the production notes say writer/director Nick Cassavetes wrote the story in an effort to depict the “types of teens who populated his daughter Gina’s high school.” However, I should mention the story does follow the life of Hollywood as relayed through the media.
No matter how much is true and how much is fiction, as it stands it is one hell of a harsh reality and brutal story. Too bad the acting and slow moments in the film can’t make up for an intriguing ending and pretty good performances by Timberlake and Yelchin.
Truelove aside, this is more of a story that speaks of the consequences of Truelove’s actions and how they affect his group of friends, primarily Frankie played by Timberlake. Frankie becomes the caretaker for young Zack and the two form a bond that ultimately becomes the emotional core of the film. Both Yelchin and Timberlake make this movie watchable with Yelchin’s innocence and Timberlake’s class-clown behavior, and these two factors are the only things that give the ending any sort of payoff.
On the other end of the spectrum I don’t think Hirsch could have done any better, but I just didn’t believe the hardcore vibe that was being offered up here. We just saw him playing the awkward young kid in The Girl Next Door, and now I am supposed to believe he is a drug dealing kidnapper just because his hat is turned backward? Sorry, not buying it.
Despite its obvious flaws and slow moments Alpha Dog is a decent film with a great payoff, but to recommend you see it in the theater would be too much. This is a good film to enjoy as a rental. Trust me; you will enjoy it much more if you haven’t spent $25 to see it.
