Alpha Dog Reviews

Not bad at all.

This was surprisingly good. It does lack somewhat in depth but I suppose target audience does apply. Willis does a good job acting against type and shock horror ole timberhead is pretty good, though there might be a arguement he was playing himself in most scenes!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Good, but flawed

Based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, one of the youngest men to ever make the FBI Most Wanted list, this film has changed the names, I can only assume, to protect the innocent (or perhaps because the real life Hollywood objected to his portrayal). Either way, in the film Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is a young drug dealer who is living the gangster life. His crew consist of Tiko (Fernando Vargas), Elvis (Shawn Hotosy), and Friankie (Justin Timberlake). When an associate of Truelove's, Jake (Ben Foster) is unable to pay off his debt, a rivalry build between the two. Truelove, in a spur of the moment decision, kidnaps Jake's brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin), who becomes a willing participant in his kidnapping, lapping up the gangster life with Frankie as his 'minder'. However with events slowly spiraling out of control, Truelove starts trying to work a way out of the desperate situation he has placed himself in.

Director Nick Cassavettes has followed The Notebook (his last film) with a totally different tone of film, and delivers an impressive, albeit slightly flawed, result. The mainly young cast slide into their parts with expertise, with Timberlake particularly standing out. As minder to the kidnapped kid, his role is the largest one on screen, and he defies the nay-sayers who doubted his switch to movies by delivering a performance that promises that this could be an actor to watch out for in the future. Support to the young cast is at hand in the forms of Sharon Stone and Bruce Willis.

The occasional documentary-like moments with Willis and Stone being interviewed about events remind the audience that, although marginally fictionalised, this is still a true story, and during the main moments of the story, the on-screen prompts counting the witnesses make you realise how careless the gang were, whilst also highlighting how many people would simply turn and look away rather than report something they see. A shocking snapshot of the fear-filled society of the film.

The film does have a few flaws. It starts off a bit slow, with the film offering no reason why we should really care about events which transpire. Sharon Stone's later moments in the film, where (as the mother of Zack) she delivers a powerful, and moving speech to camera would be more impressive were she not wearing a fat-suit which makes that in Shallow Hal look real! The smaller errors (such as the gang playing Halo on an X-Box when the film is set 2 years before the machine was made) can be overlooked.

Overall this is a worthwhile film to watch, just not really something that demands viewing on the big screen. It is also a good showcase of what Timberlake can do, and for that alone Alpha Dog gets a thumbs up

DON'T MISS THIS!!A film well worth watching!

I was really impressed with the performances from Timberlake, Foster and Melchin in this movie. I have just seen Justin in 'Edison' and thought that the boy has potential in acting. He certainly takes a leap (and shines)in this flick as Frankie, Johnny Truelove's /AKA Jesse James Hollywood's 'boy'.Based on a true story of the youngest criminal wanted by the FBI, it just makes you think that following a life of crime is really not for people with brains or intelligence. Certainly killing an innocent boy as a form of damage limitation has got to be the stupidest idea ever. Some great scenes in this movie: Foster as the raving Mazursky delivers a masterful, convincing performance. Melchin as his 15 year old likeable, younger brother that gets kidnapped and killed. Performances that did no justice to the film was Hirsch as Truelove. He was badly cast, and was portrayed as a simpering twat. I think they could have made his character less one dimensional. Hirsch performance lacked something, I think they should have cast someone else instead, Hirsch just didn't convince me. Plus Stone should really retire from the movies.Her crying scene in the end as the fat, distressed mother of the young boy was OTT and so badly acted I was embarassed for her. Overall those 2 bad casting choices did not put a mark on this great effort of a movie. I thought the end was tongue and cheek when they played the song 'Goodbye Hollywood' in the background as Truelove is about to get caught. Plus he gets caught in Brazil, but because of the court case blocking any info relating to actual case facts, the movie had to say that Truelove /Hollywood was caught in Paraguay, yet in the background the movie ends with the song 'The girls in Ipanema' (or whatever the song is called). I liked that: people that know the Hollywood story will appreciate those subtleties. A deserving end to a story well worth telling.

turned it off after an hour

I thought this film would be good having a good cast, but it wasn't what i expected. I got bored and turned it off after an hour. Maybe I should of tried to keep watching, then I could write a fairer review, but then again I said that to myself after half an hour and it didn't get any better :-(

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Alpha Dawg poo on my shoe.

I was left asking myself many questions after viewing this movie such as, who on earth in their right minds would think that these factual events would make a good movie? Why does everybody in this movie say 'suck my John Thomas' over and over again? And, who wrote this damn awful script!?

Alpha Dog is a heavily 'Hollywoodised' interpretation of a version of events surrounding a group of drug dealers in LA. A debt is owed to the leader of the pack called PJ Truelove, whose dad (played by Bruce Willis) is a dealer called Sonny Truelove, so in order to have the debt repaid they make the absolutely catastrophically bad decision to kidnap the brother of the Mazursky who owes the debt. Now Mazursky is this nazi lovin, kung fu ass kicking nutcase who at one stage was the debt collector for Truelove. So this so called gang, which consists of lovable characters such as Frankie, played by old Trousersnake, snatch the kid then proceed to show the young brother the time of his life. At one stage the kid gets laid in a pool by two stunners!? So after a few days of partying and getting his end away, they decide, well...we couldn't possibly send him home cos we don't want to go to prison. I know! Lets shoot the dude! What the!? I mean, how stupid can you get? How stoned would you have to be? Why did every girl in this movie look as though they stepped straight out of size zero calendar shoot? I give up. Aargh!

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Ridiculous and Pretentious

I was intrigued by this film mainly because of JT but I am also a sucker for a true story. My advice is not to waste your time renting this unless you will be satisfied just seeing JT in action.

I couldn't quite believe what I was watching as it was that stupid and self indulgant. I felt that there was a really great story there that could have been exploited perfectly in film, however, this only proved to be an extended version of the OC with swearing and a bit of drug selling thrown in, oh yeah, and the central story of an abduction and a murder. The best part of this story was just finding out the real outcome of the characters at the very end in the closing credits.

A very bad, glossy impression of a fascinating real event.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Frustrating

This movie has a good cast, it is supposed to reflect the LA youth culture and is inspired by the true life of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood. It is a bit slow in the beginning but with Bruce and Sharon being interviewed about the events it reminds you that this in fact really did happen and is based on a true story. I found the speech that Sharon Stone gave at the end really sad to watch. It is frustrating how innocent people have to die because of the bad ones. This film portrays how heartless and stupid teenagers can be when they are amongst their peers.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Lots of Alpha and certainly no Dog...

Inspired by the true life of drug dealer Jesse James Hollywood, this is a real peak into the lives of drug gang wannabees and hangers on, basically these guys are dealing pretty low level and living a party style life off the proceeds when things, as they often do in this murky world, get rather out of hand... enough said...

It is filmed in a semi drama / semi documentary style, and balances the two better than any other I have seen, Mr Timberlake and the rest of the cast are much better than just 'good' in this they are believable and really bring the characters to life.

So all in all, a quite excellent 'things get out of hand' true to life film, that I would definatley recommend watching.

not worth the two hours ....mins of your life

Worst acting i've ever seen, and i know this is true story, but it just seemed so unbelievable. had to watch this in two sittings because i got so bored, and then because i hate not giving a film its time to run its course - i have to watch the end, it didn't improve!

great film

well worth watching found myself thinking about it the following day at work which i always think is the sign of a good movie.

Totally agree with what one of the other reviews said about the weak lead role and sharon stones dire performance, the way she blows her own trumpet about her performance in the extras i think she really thought the oscars would be knocking on her door in truth it was embarrassing to watch.

Apart from that spot on, i'm glad i'm not the only one sad enough to spot the time travelling xbox!!