It’s impossible to watch Nick Cassavetes’ scowling delinquent drama without thinking of the jaded, callous teens that populate Bully or The River’s Edge. Like the fine, if frequently disturbing, representations of wasted youth offered by these titles, Alpha Dog is drawn from a real life murder perpetrated by, you know, real live kids.
In 2000, the spectacularly named Jesse James Hollywood (essayed here by Hirsch as Johnny Trueblood, for convoluted legal reasons) was a dime-store thug knocking out weed to valley girls and cruising around the affluent ghettoes of southern California. After (allegedly) ordering a hit on a 15 year-old, he high-tailed it to Brazil as one of the FBI’s most wanted and remained there until his arrest in 2005. Four teens were convicted of the murder, but Hollywood is still awaiting trial and may face the death penalty. His attorney has, understandably, attempted to block the film.
Mr. Cassavetes is not, however, interested in Hollywood’s time on the lam, but in the factors that led to the killing – hormones, boredom, stupidity and delusions of gangsta prowess.
When Trueblood’s arch-nemesis (Ben Foster) fails to pay a $1000 debt, the posse is duly dispatched to kidnap his kid brother Zack (Yelchin). Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and the kidnappers are soon taking their victim to parties and showing him the time of his life.
It can’t last. It doesn’t.
A brutal tension and a bewitching tawdry glamour drives Alpha Dogs and suggests it for automatic cult status among naughty children everywhere.
In a film of good performances, Mr. Timberlake’s dumb kid in way over his head is a highlight. Would-be detractors will just have to wait around for his first modernist novel.