Alpha Dog (2006)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Nick Cassavetes

Writer (WGA):

Nick Cassavetes (written by)

Release Date:

12 January 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Inspired by true events.

Plot:

A drama based on the life of Jesse James Hollywood, a drug dealer who became one of the youngest men ever to be on the FBI's most wanted list.

Plot Keywords:

Drug Dealer | Drugs | Gang | Party | California

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Bruce Willis	...	Sonny Truelove
Matthew Barry	...	Interviewer (as Matt Barry)
Emile Hirsch	...	Johnny Truelove
Fernando Vargas	...	Tiko 'TKO' Martinez
Vincent Kartheiser	...	Pick Giaimo
Justin Timberlake	...	Frankie Ballenbacher
Shawn Hatosy	...	Elvis Schmidt
Alex Solowitz	...	Bobby '911'
Alec Vigil	...	P.J. Truelove
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Cosmo Gadabeeti
Frank Cassavetes	...	Adrian Jones
Nicole Dubos	...	Neighborhood Girl on Couch
Regina Rice	...	Dance Bitch Girl
Laura Nativo	...	Party Girl
Ben Foster	...	Jake Mazursky

Also Known As:

Jesse James Hollywood (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive drug use and language, strong violence, sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

USA:122 min | USA:117 min (Sundance Film Festival) | Germany:118 min | Argentina:122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Canada:18A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | USA:R (certificate #42022) | Ireland:18 | Italy:T | Germany:16 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) | Singapore:R21 (cut) | France:-12 | Finland:K-15 | Netherlands:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Argentina:18 | Malaysia:(Banned) | South Korea:18 | Peru:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Brazil:16 | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | Chile:18 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

Acton, California, USA

Company:

Sidney Kimmel Entertainment

Trivia:

The tattoo encircling Jake Mazursky's (Ben Foster) neck is the original Hebrew verse from Psalms 109:14, "Let not the sin of his mother be blotted out".

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The movie starts in 1999, but in the early part of the movie when "Johnny Truelove" is at the liquor store awaiting "the drop", there is a silver 2002+ Toyota Camry in the scene.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sonny Truelove: You wanna know what this is all about? You can say it's about drugs or guns or disaffected youth, or whatever you like. But this whole thing is about parenting. It's about taking care of your children. You take care of yours, I take care of mine.

Movie Connections:

References "Punk'd" (2003)

Soundtrack:

Enemy and I

Surprisingly good

I got a chance to see a screening of this at Sundance.

This movie sucks you in, seduces you, entrances you, then whacks you over the head with a baseball bat.

It starts off fairly annoying... bunch of pimply-faced white wanna-be's spouting rapid fire ghetto speak with rap music blaring in the background. Eminem would be proud. I thought to myself, "oh no, here we go to one dimensional city...".

But after a while these characters became very likable. These are REAL characters, living a really dangerous life style. The effect is similar in Goodfellas... they're so bad, so annoying, but fascinating, and free in ways ordinary people aren't. They do what they want, when they want and give you a bloody nose if you try and stop them.

There's a mood, an energy, a style that Cassavettes was able to capture and portray that made this film so far removed from any clichéd studio product geared toward teenyboppers. The film feels honest and genuine, and that's the difference.

At a certain point, after all the partying, and boozing and drugging, the film takes a turn for the worse and climaxes into a gut wrenching, horrible tragedy that left me (and the audience) stunned.

Overall it's an extremely well crafted film, definitely worth seeing.

And I almost forgot to mention the biggest surprise of all... Justin Timberlake. Forget what you know, forget N'SYNC, this guy is a real actor. I almost feel strange saying this, but it's true... He was stunning, almost stole the movie; crackled whenever he was on screen. He has all the right ingredients for a stellar acting career; charisma, screen presence, that separates him from the pretty faced phonies clogging the movie screens. Every moment he was on screen he was doing something that worked, and he makes it look easy, the most important trait a great actor has. I'll definitely be watching his acting career very closely from now on.