'Alpha Dog' runs wild

Suburban gangstas unchecked in gritty tale of drugs and murder

Friday, January 12, 2007

Pay attention to the locations in Alpha Dog, a movie based on a true story about a 15-year-old San Fernando Valley boy who was murdered as part of stupid, impulsive kidnapping.

Forget inner-city deprivation - these white gangstas live in the suburban hood. They hang out at homes with well- stocked refrigerators, big-screen TVs, swimming pools and bars. But that doesn't mean they don't have their share of tattoos or aren't serious about gangsta grit, complete with gunplay, violence and (most important) big-ticket drug deals.

Director Nick Cassavetes tries to keep things real as he introduces us to a world in which a feud between two thugs (Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch) leads to a killing. Hirsch's Johnny Truelove tries to collect money from Foster's Jake Mazursky; to further his cause, he kidnaps Jake's younger brother Zack (Anton Yelchin).

If that's all there were to Alpha Dog, the movie wouldn't be worth much, but Cassavetes aims to fill in details that show how these shiftless young people lose control of a situation.

For a while, it looks as if the whole kidnapping business will come to naught. Zack, who's been having difficulty getting along with his parents, pretty much enjoys the company of his captors. They allow him to party freely right up until he's murdered.

Well-acted by a strong ensemble cast, the movie features intense work from Foster, as a near psychopath, from Hirsch as a conniving, spineless leader and, surprisingly, from Justin Timberlake, who plays one of Truelove's associates, a young man who wrestles with his conscience and loses.

The movie, which closed last year's Sundance Film Festival, has been the subject of a lawsuit. The character Hirsch plays is based on Jesse James Hollywood, who was arrested in 2000. Hollywood still hasn't gone to trial, and you'll know pretty quickly why his attorneys tried to halt the movie's release. (Names of the characters have been changed.)

At times the wanton behavior, rampant profanity and hard partying makes you wonder why we're watching these young criminals at work and at play. You can feel a little dopey (you'll pardon the pun) for getting caught up with these potheads.

But Cassavetes tries to supply explanatory background. We meet the victim's parents (Sharon Stone and David Thornton). Truelove's father (Bruce Willis) evidently supplies his son with drugs for sale, but parents and children generally don't seem to live in the same universe.

Most of the time, Cassavetes keeps things intense, although he adopts some disturbing affectations, the most notable of which are the occasional intrusion of a mock-documentary style and pointless split-screen images. Cassavetes' script also has structural problems, particularly at the end, which makes it yet another movie that doesn't know how to bow out gracefully.

Still, there's a feel of authenticity about Alpha Dog, primarily because of the performances of the young actors, including Shawn Hatosy as one of Johnny's stooges. These drifting, mean-spirited and shockingly amoral kids almost offset the movie's tendency to drown itself in the same decadent atmospherics that seduces its characters.

Robert Denerstein is the film critic. denersteinb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5424