Lords of Dogtown: Unrated

Reviewed by:
Paul Ulane

Go back to a time before Tony Hawk was a skate star and a video game wrapped in his own flavor of Mountain Dew with this dramatized account of the birth of pool skating. The sincere Lords of Dogtown nails the '70s skate scene, riding a screenplay by Stacy Peralta, a full-baked performance by Heath Ledger, and knee-shredding skate sequences. The extras grind even harder round the pool drain, including a thorough "Making of" that tracks the flick's journey from documentary to Hollywood hit and includes the original skaters teaching clueless young cast members how to stay upright on a board in pre-production boot camp. A commentary track with Peralta runs like a faceplant down memory lane as he reminisces about his childhood and points out where the movie gets that '70s vibe just right. Deleted scenes catch more of the gang skating, surfing, and partying, and there are even clips of a skateboarding bulldog. Naturally, for the America's Funniest Home Videos fan in all of us, there's also "Bails and Spills," a collection of the worst on-set wipeouts. (Disclaimer: No stoners were harmed during the filming of this movie.)

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