Review of Alpha Dog (2006) by April N — 29 Jan 2012

Some people already know the story of Jesse James Hollywood. He was a 20-year-old drug kingpin who ruled Los Angeles in 2000. Allegedly, he had a 15-year-old boy kidnapped and eventually murdered because the boy's older brother owed Hollywood $1,200.

A true story of California teens with more drug money than sense. All the out-of-control rich kids look and sound alike, spewing more F-bombs than one can imagine, so at first it]s kind of hard to differentiate between them.

As surprised as I am to say this, Timberlake does a really great job. You can truly see in his eyes the struggle his character is having with the kidnapping, and how much he grows to like Jake the more time he spends with him. At first you giggle at Timberlake cussing up a storm, but after the novelty wears off his unexpectedly good acting chops take over.

I thought the producers could have done more with Hollywood's capture than using it as a post-it note at the end of the movie.