Hounddog stars Fanning as Lewellen, an Elvis obsessed 12-year old in 1950s Alabama, trapped between her abusive father, David Morse (who turns in a performance reminiscent of Simple Jack in Tropic Thunder), her absentee mother, Robin Wright Penn, who also executive produced the film, and her God-fearing grandmother, Piper Laurie.
Deborah Kampmeier fails as both writer and director. Filled with mallet-handed symbolism that bashes the audience over the head and laughably bad overacting, Hounddog has the pretense of being about shattered innocence (there are constant Adam and Eve references), but it’s more like a subpar Black Snake Moan with a 12-year-old; exploitive, misguided and almost unwatchable.
Grade: F
Hounddog releases in select theaters Sept. 19.