Alpha Dog Critic Reviews

As it escalates to a nasty conclusion, Alpha Dog doesn't have the moral or emotional weight of tragedy. These aren't the psychologically exploded youths of "Rebel Without a Cause," or even "The Outsiders." They're characters in a long, violent, unbleeped episode of MTV's "Cribs."Read the full review

Cassavetes throws in everything he can recycle to grab a core-demo viewer -- slutty teens making out, blaring rock music, guns, split screens.Read the full review

In a film with several over-the-top characters bordering on camp, Timberlake's Frankie is the only one who approaches three dimensions, adept at convincingly dishing out some of the movie's disturbing violence as well as registering subtle shifts in Frankie's allegiance.Read the full review

Alpha Dog isn't a happy movie, but it's dramatically solid and the impressions it leaves will not be easily shaken.Read the full review

Timberlake walks off with the movie. Too bad it's not worth stealing.Read the full review

The whole thing is dizzying, like "Moulin Rouge" without songs and dances extolling love.Read the full review

The cretins rule in Alpha Dog, which has much the same entertainment value you get from watching monkeys fling scat at one another in a zoo or reading the latest issue of Star magazine. Of course a little of that nasty stuff may land on you, but such are the perils of voyeurism.Read the full review

All the bright colors Cassavetes splashes on the canvas don't make Alpha Dog art.Read the full review

Don't be fooled by the presence of some pretty-boy actors: Alpha Dog is a gritty, gut-wrenching and disturbing film.Read the full review