Susan Granger’s review of “Alpha Dog” (Universal Pictures)
This gritty, violent gangsta film – which brought Justin Timberlake to Sundance last year – is aimed directly at the rebellious youth market, as a fictionalized account of a 1999 true story from Claremont, California.
Drug dealer Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) heads a well-heeled San Gabriel Valley gang that includes heavily tattooed Frankie (Timberlake), Elvis (Shawn Hatosy) and Tiko (Fernando Vargas). It seems this hot-headed kid, Jake Marzursky (Ben Foster), is not only unable to pay his $1,200 drug debt but is also disrespectful to Johnny, trashing his ultramodern pad. Egomaniacal Johnny impulsively retaliates by grabbing Jake’s 15 year-old half-brother Zack (Anton Yelchin) as a marker and heading for Palm Springs.
Partying out in the desert, the reckless stoners get used to having Zack around and he’s having a decadent, boozy blast, even losing his virginity. But the fact remains that he’s been kidnapped, and Johnny becomes the youngest man on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.
Demonstrating “auteur” tendencies he inherited from his parents (John Cassavetes, Gene Rowlands), writer/director Nick Cassavetes structures part of the story like a mock documentary, utilizing hand-held camera, split screens and revelatory interviews. Eventually, the gang and their hostage are spotted by no fewer than 38 witnesses within 72 hours – yet only one (Dominique Swain) seems even vaguely aware of the inevitably tragic consequences. Adult supervision is minimal and – in the case of Johnny’s father (Bruce Willis) and Zack’s mother (Sharon Stone) – totally ineffectual.
Cassavetes is a far better director than writer, although his ‘youth alienation’ roots go back to Larry Clark’s “Bully,” Penelope Spheeris’ “Suburbia” and Nicholas Ray’s “Rebel Without a Cause.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Alpha Dog is an abusive, shallow, sleazy 4 – at best, a cautionary morality tale.
