Hounddog

R

Released Sep 19, 2008

1 hr. 33 min.

Drama

List

15%

52 Reviews

Tomatometer

47%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) lives with her grandmother (Piper Laurie) in Alabama. Though unable to care for her himself, Lewellen's father (David Morse) tries to connect with his daughter through Elvis Presley's music. After her father's girlfriend (Robin Wright Penn) -- with whom Lewellen has a special bond -- leaves, Lewellen suffers a horrible sexual assault and is traumatized. With some aid from Elvis' music, Lewellen's friend Charles (Afemo Omilami) helps her work through her pain.

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Critics Consensus

Despite a noble effort from Dakota Fanning, Hounddog is overwrought, cliche-ridden and downright exploitative.

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Audience Member

Fanning is great as country girl Lewellen that has a crazy for a father and a generally torn life. But when she's sexually assaulted to the tune of "hounddog" (which is horribly overused in the film) - you begin to wonder if the movie has depth or is just out to shock.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/12/23

Full Review

steve d

Powerful story (though not always a happy one) and some great performances. Highly underrated.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Deborah Kampmeier makes terrible poorly made movies about important social issues. I keep wanting to like her movies. But the awful screenplay, dialogue, direction keep holding them back from anything great.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The acting was brilliant. The music was good. Still would not recommend though. I watched it when I was about 8. Seriously scarred me. I still have flashbacks.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not much to say about this movie other than the astonishing performance of Dakota Fanning. Maybe the movie is in bad taste in some parts (the infamous scene could have been handled better or left out completely) and the father turned retarded after being struck by lightening was a bit weird as he seemed to have designs on her but all in all Dakota is a great little actress.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

After this film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, the only thing people could say about it was that it was "the Dakota Fanning rape movie," in that there is a scene where the main character, played by the then 12 year old actress is subject to a rape attack. People stayed away in droves. Outrage became so ridiculous that, according to Dakota, people were calling her MOM and scolding her for allowing her daughter to appear in such a film! Dakota was one of the best child actresses of her generation, and possibly of all time, for her delicate, mature portrayals of her young characters. Of course, she's still a great actress today, but as a child actress she was special for her intelligence and thoughtful approach to acting. And there are lots of other great actors in the film, past (Piper Laurie), present (Robin Wright Penn) and future (Isabelle Fuhrman, another amazing child actress, makes her film debut here.) So I decided to give this one a shot. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the actual scene depicting the infamous rape is actually the MOST subtle scene in the movie. No unnecessary lingering and certainly no graphic depicting. Just a close up of her face and the horrified look that comes across it as she realizes what's really happening... ...and then there's virtually EVERY SINGLE THING that comes before and after that. Normally I don't like to judge movies based on a single scene. But I can judge this movie on the fact that it's simply awful. The script is a veritable slop trough of overheated Southern melodrama, ridiculous soap opera plot turns, and everyone in the cast acting without the aid of someone to reign them in and help them decide what emotion goes where. It's one of the worst messes I've ever seen. It just becomes more and more outrageous until it reaches the ending-the ultimate point of outrage! I haven't been this disgusted with a film ending in a long time. I truly regret watching this. Dakota's still one of our best young actresses, and she does what she can, but this unruly disaster was deserving of the scorn it received- not because of a rape scene, but because the rape scene is the only part of the movie that doesn't try to communicate it's ideas and feelings by smashing you in your face with a sledgehammer. Skip this. The one star is just my personal respect for the talented actors involved, but it's no recommendation of any sort.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

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Deborah Kampmeier

Director

Dakota Fanning

Lewellen

Cody Hanford

Buddy

Piper Laurie

Granny

David Morse

Daddy

Afemo Omilami

Charles

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Hank Sartin

Time Out

Rated: 2/5

Nov 18, 2011

Full Review

Melissa Anderson

Time Out

Rated: 1/5

Nov 17, 2011

Full Review

Steven Winn

San Francisco Chronicle

The whole distasteful mess is sunk up to its neck in a brew of Southern Gothic atmosphere and hocus-pocus sentimentality.

Rated: 0/4

Oct 31, 2008

Full Review

Michael Sragow

Baltimore Sun

Hounddog boasts a distinctive wood-and-emerald look and several crackerjack performances.

Rated: 2.5/4

Oct 31, 2008

Full Review

Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

...as discomfiting as you've heard, yet there is one moment near the end that nearly saves it.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 8, 2008

Full Review

Brian Orndorf

BrianOrndorf.com

Fanning resembles an acting robot: stick a quarter in her head and she'll dial up any reaction in the book, absent the needed gravitas.

Rated: D+

Oct 2, 2008

Full Review

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Synopsis

Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) lives with her grandmother (Piper Laurie) in Alabama. Though unable to care for her himself, Lewellen's father (David Morse) tries to connect with his daughter through Elvis Presley's music. After her father's girlfriend (Robin Wright Penn) -- with whom Lewellen has a special bond -- leaves, Lewellen suffers a horrible sexual assault and is traumatized. With some aid from Elvis' music, Lewellen's friend Charles (Afemo Omilami) helps her work through her pain.

Director: Deborah Kampmeier
Executive Producer: Robin Wright, Stacey Bakula, Rebecca Cleary, Scott Franklin, Henri M. Kessler
Screenwriter: Deborah Kampmeier
Distributor: Empire Film Group
Rating: R (Brief Sexuality|Dist. Sex Aslt. of Young Girl)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 19, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 20, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $128.1K

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