So there’s a movie you haven’t heard of out called The Identical… somehow the only major theatrical release this week besides the 20th anniversary re-release of Forrest Gump (just so we can all feel old). the Identical is a very odd faux-biopic that’s basically a what-if scenario… what if Elvis Presley’s real-life still-born twin actually lived, grew up not knowing his brother, realized he looked and sounded a lot like this big-time singer, and decides to become an Elvis Impersonator all the while never REALLY wondering why he looks and sounds exactly like Elvis. Only it’s not Elvis because I guess that would be in bad taste… and might lead to a lawsuit. Instead, it’s a guy who looks exactly like Elvis… same eyes, same hair, same mouth, same dancing style, same early rock ‘n roll, same vocal style, same time period, and same teen beach movie career. Which is fine… we are in a sci-fi world where Elvis doesn’t exist… except there’s one line of dialog where someone says there’s only One Elvis, One Drexel (the Elvis-like character in this movie), and one Beatles… so this is a weird world where there’s an Elvis, a Drexel, and a Drexel Impersonator all looking and sounding identical. And nobody in this movie – or who made this movie – thought this was bonkers.
The cast…well… don’t know the dude playing the Elvis and the Elvis Impersonator but Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd, Seth Green, and Joey Pantallone are randomly in it.
Oh, and it’s also apparently a faith-based movie but not in the usual ways (other than a distinct lack of cussin’, drinkin’, and fornicatin’). I mean, the Dad of the adopted kid is a southern baptist preacher (Ray Liotta!) who wants the kid to follow him and become a preacher too… to follow God’s plan for him. But instead he goes to roadhouses, listens to the black music, and becomes an Elvis impersonator instead… because that’s what God’s calling for him was. Ummm… And it’s about how the Israeli 6 Days War was a modern miracle… just kind of tossed that in there as the only historic note in a movie that otherwise doesn’t mention Vietnam, Korea, or anything other than the Great Depression and a dusting of civil rights (for a movie that takes place from 1930s to the 1970s that seems a bit odd).
The movie is kind of nuts and I kind of enjoyed the experience of not knowing a single thing about it (other than Liotta and Ashley Judd were in it) and not knowing where it was going. I kind of liked it though no film critics seem to agree other than its possible place as a so-bad-its-good film (like The Room). I kind of think they just hate faith-based movies and this is such low-hanging fruit they might as well hate on it.