IF LORDS OF Dogtown looks familiar, no doubt you've seen Dogtown and Z-Boys. With its treasure trove of vintage home movies laid over a classic rock soundtrack, the acclaimed 2001 documentary captured the '70s heyday of the Z-Boys, a pioneering crew of skateboarders who honed their daredevil talents in empty SoCal swimming pools. Founding Z-Boy (and director of the doc) Stacy Peralta provides Lords' nostalgic script, which zeroes in on the trio of Peralta, Tony Alva, and Jay Adams – portrayed, respectively, by indie darlings John Robinson (Elephant), Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas), and Emile Hirsch (The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys). Visually, Lords is nearly identical to director Catherine Hardwicke's previous youth-gone-wild epic, Thirteen, but her gritty handheld camerawork proves an apt choice here; many scenes appear to be carbon-copied directly from the doc. There is a plot, of sorts: As the boys ascend from skateboard outlaws to superstars, loyalties are tested and friendships strained – basic sports movie stuff. Fortunately, Lords has way more style than most sports movies; it also has the good fortune to be about a sport as alluring as skateboarding, which thrives on a certain anti-authoritarian glee that's precisely conveyed here. Though it's not as essential as the documentary, Lords is absolutely enjoyable and sufficiently buoyed by its game cast, led by Hirsch (in the film's most dynamic role) and Heath Ledger, who finally lives up to his own hype as slurring surf shop owner Skip Engblom. (Cheryl Eddy)