Review: Alpha Dog

The one thing that saves Alpha Dog from being a remarkably bad film is how entertaining it is to watch the actors on the screen take the movie so seriously. Essentially a story about suburban teenage gangsters and their antics, Cassavetes’ film features performances that are so over-the-top that they actually grow on you enough to make the movie enjoyable. Apart from being an excuse to showcase partying, crime, substance abuse, and lots of cursing, Alpha Dog is actually a decently well-written film, with one-liners that will have you chuckling throughout the plot.

The big news here is that Justin Timberlake isn’t horrible; in fact, his performance Frankie Ballenbacher is pretty good, and as nuanced as a part in a fluff film can get. Anton Yelchin is quite endearing as the cooperative kidnapee as well, but in general, Alpha Dog is pretty flat. What makes it entertaining is that every single actor on the screen — from the usually-great Emile Hirsch to the phenomenally-cute-but-one-dimensional Amanda Seyfried — is actually acting like this was a serious movie instead of just a bunch of film fare to fill in the January slump. Only Bruce Willis seems to be in on the fact that Alpha Dog is a bunch of fluff, and he plays his small role with a smugness that tells everyone in the audience that he’s only here to have a little fun. And that’s what this movie is: a little fun, but nothing I’d pay money to watch again.