Lords of Dogtown

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Lords of Dogtown ★★ 2005 (PG-13)

Another ego-trip down memory lane for writer and original Z-Boy Stacy Peralta, serving as a dramatic reenactment to his documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys.” A motley crew of surferturned skater kids in 1975's Venice, CA, turn skateboarding into a pop-culture revolution. The movie version of their story, however, is a bit of a wipe out. The skating looks great, but some botched acting and poor pacing confuses everything. Ledger does his best with the clumsy role of Zephyr founder Skip Englom, but others, mostly real life skater kids, aren't as convincing. Starts to click in the second-half, but still riddled with bad dialogue and rushed storytelling. Loaded with cameos, mostly by pro skate veterans, and one by the late, great, cult stand-up comic Mitch Hedberg. 107m/C DVD, UMD . US Heath Ledger, Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson, Nikki Reed, Michael Angarano, Rebecca De Mornay, Johnny Knoxville; D: Catherine Hardwicke; W: Stacy Peralta; C: Elliot Davis; M: Mark Mothersbaugh.