Alpha Dog

In the summer of 2005, I first saw a trailer for this movie and was excited for its release in January of 2006. 2006 came and the movie never saw the light of day and finally in the beginning of 2007 it found a release. See, the movie was mired in legal red tape because the story it is based on wasn’t finished and the defense was worried it would sway public opinion to the wrong (right) side. So after a year of waiting, was this movie worth the wait? HELL no. I never thought I’d say Justin Timberlake was the best thing in a movie, but he proves it here. The director seems to have no clue what he is doing and he wrote an utterly disastrous script filled with more swearing, misogyny, homophobia and racism than a movie needs to make its point. Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is a drug dealer and appears to have done very well for himself in that trade, yet the director never clues us in to exactly what is going on in his life. It is easy to assume that he isn’t nearly as rich as we are supposed to believe because this whole movie is spawned off a $1200.00 debt. Now someone rolling hardcore in cash is not going to nearly choke a guy to death when he is late with the debt. What happen next is 2 out of control spun out druggies trying to one up each other ending in the kidnapping of a 15 yr old kid. The kid is the brother of the guy who owes Truelove money.


Justin Timberlake plays Frankie, the right hand man of Truelove and the man burdened with the task of keeping an eye on the kidnapped teen while Truelove tries to figure out a plan. See, the kidnapping was spur of the moment and was incredibly sloppy. However, every time a new witness is shown, the filmmaker feels the need to remind us these are witnesses and it gets very annoying quickly. I am not sure if this movie was made as a comedy or a drama or something else all together, but my audience felt it was comical and was often laughing at moments that should have been serious. Ben Foster plays the guy in debt and plays him about as over the top as any human being can. To hammer home my point, I’ll just say even Al Pacino would be like “dude, pull it back.” In fact everyone in this thing, with the exception of JT, seems to believe screaming is the best way to get a point across. Everyone drinks, smokes and has sex. Everyone uses the word “fuck” about 50 times and I am not sure you could go 10 words of dialogue without hearing that word uttered, well, screamed at the top of someone’s lungs.


The story in itself is interesting. What happens when something spins incredibly out of control and what happens when that happens to young people who can’t grasp reality. How far do you go for your friends and when is enough, enough, but the director has no business here and most of the actors don’t either. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone are both essentially pointless and Sharon Stone in a fat suit towards the end is supposed to register sympathy but her screaming and near drooling just elicits giggles. In the end, Justin Timberlake manages to remain mostly unscathed. He is funny and light hearted when it is called for and then when he realizes what he is really in for he manages to squeeze some very serious acting chops out of his pretty face. When it is all said and done, you almost feel bad for his character, which is saying something because of what happens throughout the film. I wish I had liked this movie, but JT and all of the very hot and skanky looking girls couldn’t really make this one even worth renting.