Alpha Dog - Movie Review

Though barely out of his teens, Johnny Truelove has already built a lucrative career for himself selling drugs - he has his own home, a luxury car, and posse of friends who do double duty as his crew, including Elvis, Frankie, and Tiko. While life at Johnny's house is usually a constant party interrupted by occasional dope deals, Johnny has lost all of his patience with Jake Mazursky, a regular customer who has run up a large tab that he can't pay. Determined to clear Jake's account, Johnny and his boys plan to kidnap Jake and hold him for ransom, but when they happen upon his 15-year-old stepbrother, Zack, they impulsively decide to take the youngster instead. Jake's father, Butch, and his stepmother, Olivia, are already furious with their junkie son when they learn about Zack's disappearance, and aren't sure what they should do. Meanwhile at Johnny's place, Frankie takes a liking to young Zack, who already admires his brother's high-flying lifestyle, and introduces the kid to the joys of grown-up partying, which he takes to with dangerous zeal.

I have seen an investigative report (I think it was Dateline NBC) about the true events that this film was based on and I must say I enjoyed the Dateline story much more than the movie. The true story is fascinating, shocking and sad, but the film was just a bunch of guys sitting around and smoking pot with the kid they kidnapped. While the film closely followed the facts of the case, they certainly could have made it more interesting and included more of what happened to "Johnny Truelove" after he fled Southern California. The acting was OK (how hard is it to act stoned), but Justin Timberlake stood out and really did a surprisingly good job. The rest of the cast didn't make a big impression on me and there was one scene in the middle of the film where one of the characters started doing kung-fu moves on a bunch of people at a party - very out of place and awkward. If you're going to spend the time to watch this film, try to track down the Dateline NBC episode to see the real people behind the story - I was disappointed they didn't include it in the special features on the DVD.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone

The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.