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Alpha Dog
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Metascore
53 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 30 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.6 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 62 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Emile Hirsch, Justin Timberlake
  • Summary: Versatile filmmaker Nick Cassavetes directs an impressive group of both young and veteran performers in Alpha Dog, inspired by actual events, a film that follows three fateful days when the lives of a group of Southern California teens suddenly dead-ended. (Universal)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 30
  3. Negative: 1 out of 30
  1. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    80
    In 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.
  2. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Pete Vonder Haar
    60
    Your enjoyment of Alpha Dog may very well depend on how put off you are by these facts, as well as how much you buy Timberlake in his role, and how in the mood you are to sit through "River's Edge" set in the "Entourage" universe.
  3. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    25
    Its main feature is incessant, unimaginative profanity...Take out the cursing, and you're left with a plebeian drama about angry, aimless potheads, sloppily directed by the man who wrote it.

See all 30 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 18 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 32
  3. Negative: 12 out of 32
  1. grandpajoe6191
    6
    The movie's cast is seriously spoiled. But despite these obstacles, "Alpha Dog" does a pretty good job maneuvering itself chronologically till the end.… Expand
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  2. ChristopherW.
    4
    Anton Yelchin and Justin Timberlake provide the way inside this film. Virtually every character in 'Alpha Dog' is despicable and unsympathetic, but there is something emotionally honest and somewhat purposeful that develops out of the most unlikely of friendships between Yelchin and Timberlake. I really think Timberlake played his cards right in this one. If not for this pairing, the film would have remained utterly bereft of focus and empathy. Despite its many artistic flaws, the tragic ending does indeed seem, well, tragic...and emerges as the heart piece in this cold depressing film.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. GaborA.
    2
    This movie is indeed bad, but bad isn't the most apt description. Absurd is. Everything about this movie is absurd from the story to the directing to the editing. The acting is the most ridiculous. JT takes this as an opportunity to show us how black he is, not at all. Foster, who is usually reliable, is an over the top joke. Emile Hirsch does a Leonardo DiCaprio impersonation the whole movie. And everyone else just acts stoned even if they're not.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 32 User Reviews

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