Country:
USA
Starring:
Emile Hirsch
Justin Timberlake
Ben Foster
Anton Yelchin
Bruce Willis
Sharon Stone
Fernando Vargas
Harry Dean Stanton
Directed By:
Nick Cassavetes
Synopsis:
Johnny Truelove (Hirsch) is a small town dope dealer. Business is going fine until he runs into trouble with local hoodlum,nutjob and Jewish white supremacist Jake Mazursky (Foster). Mazursky being extremely violent and all, Truelove and his friends kidnap his brother in other to keep him in check and refunding the money he owes. But kidnapping is a difficult business that involves major trust issues, paranoia and more often than not, a lack of communication in between all the parties. No matter how much you think you're on top of things, crime is a tough life to keep up with. Inspired by true events.
Here's a curve ball for you. Nick Cassavetes is the son of John Cassavetes, a mildly important American filmmaker, who shot movies like FACES and THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE. His films were not box-office hits by any means (although he starred in some), but the man had his own ideas about filmmaking and he helped make movies an art form in his own way. His son will be remembered for user-friendly tear-jerkers such as THE NOTEBOOK and MY SISTER'S KEEPER. So, go figure. But in between his Nicholas Sparks adaptation and his mid-afternoon bawlfest, he made ALPHA DOG, a gritty true crime movie or at least an attempt at it. It draws a little more inspiration from his father's work and yet, ends up not looking like anything solid. It's not bad, but I can't really say it's good either.
Cassavetes wrote the screenplay for ALPHA DOG, which is by far the strangest aspect of the movie. While the scenes order reflect a perfectly coherent narrative, the scene construction itself is very loose. There is little information conveyed a lots of unnecessary profanity. I have nothing against profanity in itself and I love whenever it's used in a creative way, but here, it just piles up. Most scenes consists of Frank (Timberlake) waiting for a phone call from Truelove, telling him what to do with the Mazursky boy (Yelchin) or Frank, moving the Mazursky boy to a new location. In the meantime, they smoke week, harvest weed, play video games, have a good time with girls, etc. The crime of kidnapping Zack Mazursky in itself is just a sword of Damocles hanging over their head, which sure is an original way of presenting it. It's just that...it could have been a little more dramatic, maybe?
ALPHA DOG makes it very hard to judge the performance of its actors. Justin Timberlake looks like he's playing Friendly Justin Timberlake. Emile Hirsch understands very well what is having "a criminal mind" but doesn't show much more. The only member of the cast to truly wow the crowd here is Ben Foster. I often say over-the-cop characters are easy to play and even mediocre actors can play them, but Jake Mazursky required some thought process. He constantly tangles in between desperate rage, violence and insanity and Foster managers to pull off some surprising scenes (like yeah, that telephone scene). The more experienced actor look completely ridiculous and out of place here. Bruce Willis looks stupid with his wig. The street-smart mobster/dad thing is not his game. And that last scene with Sharon Stone? Ugh.
So what's ALPHA DOG's main thing? I don't know. I suppose it's Ben Foster. He's the only cast member who seem to realize he's in a dramatic movie. I can't say the direction is great either. The image has that bleak tint to it, which really clashes with the content. ALPHA DOG isn't a bleak movie. It's about young, misguided people loosing their innocence. Nick Cassavetes doesn't seem to know what he's doing or where he wants to take this movie. The scenes and sometimes even the shots thsemselves are way too long and pointless.
But the strange thing here is that it's not bad. It's badly presented but the events and the structure of the movie tell a captivating story and it has a very realistic take on murder. Nobody wants to acknowledge what they are really doing, but the horrific reality seeps in little by little. I can't recommend ALPHA DOG, but I won't tell you to pass on it. If you like your crime movies done differently and thought outside the box, this is not perfect, but there is interesting material. It's one of those movies made for rainy afternoons and boring weeknight evenings. I'm still at loss to explain how Nick Cassavetes of all people could come up with it.
SCORE: 62%