The Identical (2014)

Don't know why this movie did not do better at the box office. This was in a time when America was America. Had a good story line. I give it a 10 for no cussing, sex, and all that junk the people think they have to have to make a movie now days. You that missed this movie needs to give it a look. If you don't want to buy it, you can see it on You tube for free. Am sure there are other places on the internet where you can find it. The singer was great. And the one song " Your Love Keeping Me Tonight" was the best one in the movie to me. My wife seen this movie in the theater and was telling me how good it was. So, since I am a big Elvis fan I watch it, and really enjoyed the movie.

By now you know the story. The real Elvis had a twin brother who died at childbirth. This movie creates a hypothetical scenario wherein the twin lives but is adopted at birth.One boy goes on to become essentially Elvis (a fictional version of him) and the other goes on to become a preacher's son with a penchant for black music, and for the music of his long lost brother whom he doesn't even realize he is related to.The actors who played the couple who gave up one boy for adoption did a fine job of acting. I felt their pain. Ray Liotta was good too. A "personality" always plays themselves. An "actor" plays diverse roles. Liotta proved he could do that by veering way far from his "wise guy" persona.Ashley Judd was added presumably for star power, because her role either didn't require much, or she chose not to do much with it.As professional critics have noted, the lead actor (an Elvis impersonator in real life)lacked "heat." Ironically his character has wondered all his life why the other guy got all the fame and not him. Clearly the reason was because the other guy had confidence and generated sexual smoke.Our main character is way too nice and respectable to be a boogie-woogie icon. More significantly the actor did not convey a sense of desperation in being trapped on the wrong path, nor frustration in missing his train so to speak. This guy is not a professional actor, so I forgive him.The film needed a passionate lead. Liotta carried the torch, but our real lead dropped the ball. There was a scene where he turns down substantial money, but shows no signs of internal conflict about it. Even when his dad falls ill, we don't really see the agony we expect to see.I don't know what the heck was going on with the pro-Israel thing or the Jewish message. OK, the real Elvis was partially Jewish genealogically, but how close to you have to follow his life in this script, given that it was not officially about him? Throwing in stuff about war in Israel and the preacher's support was simply gratuitous and awkward.I'm o.k. with our lead not doing drugs or chasing women. Apparently the production company is Christian. That's fine, but I still needed to see more of a spiritual struggle between devotion to God and the darker forces represented by dance music, and a soulful battle by a dutiful son to please his father and himself simultaneously. This was not done successfully. But nice try. I enjoyed it anyways.The most unique aspect of this film was it's original music score. They used new, original Elvis-sounding songs rather than the same old tired cliché Elvis tunes. Regardless of whether this was for copyright reasons, I enjoyed the music and appreciated its' freshness.

I'd like to meet the snobby butt reviewers who dissed this flick. My wife and I were teary eyed a few different times during this movie. It was very entertaining from start to finish with very few slow parts. Now I'm in my 50's so my Pop lived through the Depression so maybe it hit home more for me. Leave a light on and Pop would swat my butt! Lil! And I grew up just fine. This film exceeded my expectations, the music was great, who gives a heck if some of the scenes were on a sound stage?The family angle and the other portrayals were pretty good. We both felt it was 90 minutes well spend on a good movie !! Screw the critics !!! ha heehaw

I just needed something to be 'background noise' as I worked on my own projects. Turned on this movie on Netflix on my 2nd large monitor next to my 'working' monitor. Ended up getting an unexpected two-hour break from work due to cancelled meetings, so I sat back in my chair and focused on the movie. It started rather slowly and since I had not read the synopsis here, I didn't know what to expect, but hey I had my popcorn so I settled in to watch. It is an excellent family type movie or maybe a kinda 'chick flick'. NO sex. NO swearing. NO smoking. NO drinking (by the main characters). Just normal, average folks trying to lead good lives. Blake Rayne starring in his first movie ever. He is a well-known Elvis impersonator and that is obvious after the first 10 minutes of the movie. So what? The MAN is handsome, looks like a member of Elvis' family, and boy! can he sing! There's a lot of singing in this movie, early rock music. Apparently some of the other commentors didn't like that, but as a MUSICIAN, I DID. (Non musicians tend to 'like' 'pop' music because they don't grok music. Fine. But real musicians have a different 'understanding' of music.) Other reviewers have explained the premise of the movie, so I won't bother. I go more for 'sensation'... and this movie filled me up emotionally. I thought Ray Liotta gave an Oscar-winning performance, because for the FIRST time I saw how well he can ACT. I didn't know it was Mr. Liotta until halfway through the movie. Ashley Judd was fine, but she is really a one-trick-pony actress, she knows how to play -- Ashley Judd, but she does it exceptionally well. Seth Green is so cute, and quite a good b-rate actor. Actually all main actors in the movie were obviously professionals. BTW, this is NOT a religious movie even though Ray plays a minister and biblical quotes show up once in a while. As far as I am concerned, most people are sheeple anyway, and if the prevailing zeitgeist is 'anti-Christian' rhetoric, that's what the sheeple will baaaaa baaaaa baaaaah in comments for movies of this type. Good entertainment, moral and family strong. LOVED IT. However, the typographer responsible for the end titles (Sherwood Jones) let a typo escape proofreading (I saw the typo), and whoever was responsible for the type fount and kerning didn't understand type for streaming media/TV/movie screens either. The kerning should have been relaxed TV spacing (tight NOT touching), but the titles were, in fact, over kerned, possibly minus 1 when they should have been plus 1), (eruditely yours). Ms. KnowItAll (but I do so BFD) PS this movie may have financially 'bombed' at the theatres, but so did "It's a Wonderful Life". This is a good family movie, that leaves you with a good feeling, and I am BETTING it'll be on TV/streaming media devices for decades to come, just like "It's a Wonderful Life."