Review of Alpha Dog (2006) by Adam R — 23 Oct 2010

Piss-poor writing compounded by immature actors make this true-crime tale a slog, to say the least. "Alpha Dog" is an utter mess; if you want to see a similar story only done well, check out Larry Clark's "Bully," which debuted shortly after the real-life events that inspired this piece of shit.

Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is a smalltime drug dealer with a poorly explained vendetta against Hollywood hood Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster). To settle the score, Johnny kidnaps Jake's half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin, in way over his head) and holds him for ransom. Unfortunately, Johnny and his cronies are so undone by circumstances, drugs, and their own remarkable stupidity, that the crime ends in inevitable tragedy.

Any film that has a character played by Justin Timberlake earnestly blurting out "This is really, really bad" about a kidnapping-cum-murder is going to have a hard time overcoming its obvious shortcomings. Bruce Willis and Harry Dean Stanton alleviate some of the suffering, but their appearances amount to little more than cameos, leaving us to grudgingly bear a bunch of youngins unable to wrestle with the material and a heavy (Sharon Stone) turning in a performance as a grieving parent that's a good deal more comical than it is heart-rending.