Alpha Dog 3/5

Based on the real-life story of Jesse James Hollywood, a notorious, young California drug-dealer, this movie tells the story of an innocent being roped into the middle of a drug conflict, and the repercussions for everyone.

This movie came out about the same time that Smokin’ Aces came out and I knew that I wanted to see one of them, I just didn’t know which one, so I put them both in my queue.  It turns out that the one I wanted was Smokin’ Aces, so when this showed up in my mailbox, I was fully prepared to hate it (and the fact that Justin Timberlake was in it did not help my trepidation).

The movie, directed by Nick Cassavetes, opens on a series of home movies of some children playing and enjoying the pool, which eventually segues (after an interview with the main character’s father) into the kids, now in their twenties, working out in the garage.

As the movie progresses, Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is a twenty-something pot-peddler, supplied by his father, Sonny (Bruce Willis), who has alleged connections with organized crime.  Johnny, from the get-go, shows himself as a shrewd, no-nonsense boss leading his entourage through a life of aimless recreation.  Jake Mazursky (Ben Foster) shows up short on cash and Johnny attacks him.  This starts a series of vendettas, culminating in the kidnapping of Jake’s brother, Zack (Anton Yelchin).  The rest of the movie mostly follows Frankie (Justin Timberlake) and Zack through the kidnapping as Johnny tries to figure out what to do with the kid.

I did not hate this movie, as I expected, I liked it, despite some flaws.  Though the dialogue was nothing to brag about and the movie, at times, did not know what it wanted to be, changing between crime reenactment drama, documentary, and artsy drama, the movie was, at its core, a relationship drama.

The interactions between the characters, particularly Johnny, Frankie, and Elvis made this movie, showing a painful and realistic power struggle in the entourage.  But, all of the interactions had a careless psychological realism that must have been carefully studied and communicated by the director.

The best performance in this movie was Ben Foster as Jake, easily shifting between anger and drug-addled jitteriness with ease and showing a real compassion for his brother, he created a multi-dimensional character that was interesting to watch.  It’s a shame he did not get more screen time.

A few other tips of the hat went to Sharon Stone in her final interview as Zack’s Mother, displaying an amazing manic showmanship, coupled with a tragic depression, it was beautiful.  The soundtrack was a fitting, unobtrusive piece of work, and finally, Cassavetes scene on the mountain called up a recreation of the Abraham/Isaac story in a beautiful parallel that was fascinating to watch.

This movie, despite its flat dialogue, overuse of artistic fades, and genre indecision, was an interesting diversion, adroitly telling a compelling story.  I would not recommend this as a buy at the store, but if it was seen in a used bin or on a previously viewed Blockbuster shelf of 4 DVD’s for $20.00, I might pick it up.

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars, a Netflix rating of “I liked it”