Review of Alpha Dog (2006) by Ms.diva — 25 Dec 2009

What to say about 'Alpha Dog.' I' could start by saying that it's bad. But that's a blanket term I don't want to throw out yet. Director Nick (not John) Cassavetes (yes, 'The Notebook' guy (and the 'John Q' guy, a god-awful movie)) has no footing on what kind of story he's trying to tell/sell.

It's one of those 'you wouldn't believe it if it wasn't a true story' type deals, but it doesn't feel like a true -or- manufactured story. I'll start with this: the cast is awesome; Emilie Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, Ben FOSTER, even Shawn Hatosy, are all excellent, and do a fine job of portraying their characters.

Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone are kick-ass as well. An, my god, Alan Thicke is in this for about .2 seconds; blink and you'll miss 'im. Amanda Seyfried and Olivia Wilde, who are fairly famous now, kick ass here as well, as does Dominique 'Lolita' Swain.

A movie of this genre shouldn't be an ensemble/character piece, but it is; and this works/doesn't work. The action, which should work, is forced, un-macho, and doesn't drive the story. Oh, and then there's these cut scenes where they pretend they're shooting a documentary about the film's events that are spliced within the narrative.

It took me out of it at first, but then Sharon Stone shows up in a fat suit and gives a -literally- heart-wrenching performance. It surprised me in a movie like this, which made even more of an impact.

So, it's all over the place, but I like where some of its branches were going. The movie is about drug dealers/low-level thugs in Palm Springs, so there's a heavy drug-related plot. So, in one scene, two gangstas are having a chit-chat in a bedroom, and there's a clock on the nightstand.

I look closely, rewind, zoom-in, and yup, the clock says 4:20. There's suttlety (too lazy to spell that right), and then there's 'really?' All in all, there's a great movie that wants to come out, but the product we get is more than watchable.