by John Conrad

Created on: March 07, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Selling and using drugs, heavy drinking, uninhibited sexual exploration, and playing gangster are all fun and games, until someone gets kidnapped and killed that is.
As the film opens a group of wanna-be gangsters led by their "alpha dog" Johnny Truelove, Emile Hirsch, are enjoying the "high" life supplying drugs to teens in Southern California. When one of Truelove's clients fails to pay a $1200 debt, heightened testosterone and a series of bad decisions lead to a faux kidnapping that eventually ends in murder.

In the film, Truelove's character is based on real life Jesse James Hollywood (I'm not kidding, this is his real name), whose murderous antics made him the youngest person ever to grace the FBI's most wanted list.
Writer and director Nick Cassavetes, The Notebook, was given unrestricted access to the FBI case files detailing the kidnapping and murder of Nicholas Markowitz. This has led to much controversy, as it is highly unusual for police officials to open their files in ongoing investigations.
Cassavetes shot the film semi documentary-style, giving it a grainy realistic look. Also, when new characters were introduced, captions on the screen identified them as either suspects or witnesses. This helped remind the audience of the gravity of what they're watching, as similar events actually occurred.
I disliked Cassavetes's use of split screen shots as I felt they were distracting and counter productive to the film's documentary-style feel, by reminding the audience that they are indeed watching a movie. The film also took a little longer than it should have to get moving, in the first twenty-minutes or so I was unclear on what direction the film would take.
Justin Timberlake was surprisingly good in his role as Frankie Ballenbacher, one of Truelove's foul-mouthed accomplices. He brought an emotional aspect to the film, as he was torn between his budding relationship with his kidnappee, his loyalty to Truelove, and saving his own hide from prosecution. A few times in the film I felt Timberlake was over the top, but feel he has a promising career as an actor in the future.
Speaking of over the top, my favorite actor in the film was Ben Foster, who played Jake Mazurski (older brother of the boy who was kidnapped). Foster brilliantly pulled off his portrayal of a speed-addicted lowlife, who is constantly flying off the handle. My favorite scene with Foster involved him first being fired by, then attacking his boss, who he promised to "bring down to hell" with him.
Foster gained insight for his role by hanging out with a group of real-life crystal meth addicts, according to IMDB. This paid off for Foster, whose convincing body language, ticks, eye movements, and short fuse mirrored the traits of a habitual meth-head.
The real-life Hollywood was found by authorities in Brazil, and taken into police custody on March 8, 2005. He was extradited to America and is currently awaiting trial in a California prison, facing the death sentence if he is convicted.
This movie is a violent, vulgar, and powerful tour-de-force. Though I admit it may not be for everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I give this film 3 stars out of 4, and recommend anyone who liked "Brick" or "Bully" to go see it.

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