53
Metascore
30 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80L.A. WeeklyScott FoundasL.A. WeeklyScott FoundasIn his best film to date, Nick Cassavetes directs with ferocious energy, taking scenes past their logical stopping points and pushing his actors (particularly Foster, who can be as terrifying as Edward Norton in "American History X") to, but never over, the precipice of absurdity.
- 75ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliAlpha Dog isn't a happy movie, but it's dramatically solid and the impressions it leaves will not be easily shaken.
- 70Village VoiceVillage VoiceIf nothing else, Alpha Dog's worth a look for the performance of Justin Timberlake, the moral center of a movie sorely in need of some conscience. Already a gifted comic actor--his Saturday Night Live appearances are now anticipated events--he proves himself able to go to a pitch-black place.
- 60VarietyJustin ChangVarietyJustin ChangWriter-director Nick Cassavetes' sprawling dramatization recklessly blurs the line between reconstruction and reality in ways that are admittedly interesting, if more than a little artistically suspect.
- 58Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerSeattle Post-IntelligencerSean AxmakerFor all of the credibility of the performances (or at least the teens), it all feels like recycled social commentary.
- 50Rolling StonePeter TraversRolling StonePeter TraversTimberlake walks off with the movie. Too bad it's not worth stealing.
- 50Entertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumEntertainment WeeklyLisa SchwarzbaumCassavetes throws in everything he can recycle to grab a core-demo viewer -- slutty teens making out, blaring rock music, guns, split screens.
- 50The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasAll the bright colors Cassavetes splashes on the canvas don't make Alpha Dog art.
- 50The New York TimesManohla DargisThe New York TimesManohla DargisThe 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.
- 40Austin ChronicleMarrit IngmanAustin ChronicleMarrit IngmanIt's a soggy drama said to be inspired by actual events – too serious to be trashy, too trashy to be serious.