Review of Alpha Dog

I'm rather puzzled why Alpha Dog got such a rough ride from the critics. There is nothing sensationalist about it, nothing pretentious, it is well-acted by its young cast and above all it is honest. So why didn't the critics seem to like it? Well, I don't know. It is a fictionalised account – though, in truth only small details were changed so that the overall story is pretty much true – of a kidnapping and subsequent murder of a teenager by a bunch of feral and affluent teens whose aims in life consist purely of drinking, taking drugs and engaging in casual sex. To a boy – it would be misleading to write 'to a man' because this bunch, although in their late teens and early 20s – all seem to have the maturity of retarded primary school kids – they take their world view from the pseudo-violent gangsta rap videos which they play incessantly. They own guns but treat them more as a fashion item than a usable weapon, and their heroes are apparently the drug dealers portrayed on their cherished videos. They get precious little parental guidance. Incidentally, although the bunch shown in this film and the real-life idiots they are based on live and party in prosperous Los Angeles suburbs, I suspect it would be wholly unfair to assume this kind of idiot is only to be found in California. I'm sure they will be found in any city in the world where money is plentiful and parents are more concerned with their own lives than that of their offspring. The tragedy unfolds when stupidity mixes with a non-existent moral framework and one idiot decides that cold-blooded murder is preferable to spending time in jail, and another, something of a sycophant, is fully prepared to carry out the killing without any qualms whatsoever. To be fair, one of the young men involved does have pangs of conscience but these are not strong enough for him to do the decent thing and put an end to it all, which would have been very easy indeed. One of the most chilling moments is when he is offered $2,500 to kill the teenage hostage. He turns the offer down flat, but is stupid enough to accept that it was made only in jest. Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, Shawn Hatosy and Justin Timberlake prove that a new generation of talented actors is well on its way and do well as the central characters, and film has a cohesion which holds together what is a simply tale. Writer/director Nick Cassavetes cannot in the slightest be accused of glamorising the kind of hedonistic behaviour his characters engage in, in fact he goes out of his way to highlight just how pointless and potentially dangerous there lifestyle is. If anything Alpha Dog is a moral tale. But the critics didn't like it. Why? I really don't know, but that is no reason why you shouldn't give it some of your time.