Elvis & Nixon

Based on an amusing historical anecdote, director Liza Johnson's droll film centers on a meeting between Elvis Presley (Michael Shannon) and President Richard Nixon (Kevin Spacey). In late 1970, while watching the news at Graceland, Presley becomes infuriated by the growing drug problem and moral decline in the United States and he decides to become an undercover federal agent. But he needs a badge from J. Edgar Hoover's Bureau of Narcotics, and the only way to get one is from the president. So Presley's longtime confidante Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer) and Memphis crony Sonny West (Johnny Knoxville) deliver a rambling, handwritten letter to the White House, which convinces Nixon aides Egil “Bud” Krogh (Colin Hanks) and Dwight Chapin (Evan Peters) to arrange an appointment. While Nixon has no interest in meeting the pop singer, his daughter Julie wants an autographed photo. Once they do meet, however, protocol is discarded as the King and POTUS chat informally—with Presley gulping the President's Dr. Pepper and munching his M&Ms. Shannon digs deep beneath the glitz and swagger to reveal Presley as a seriously delusional yet down-to-earth Southerner who believes he can secretly infiltrate disruptive groups, such as the Black Panthers, and bring them to justice. And Spacey embodies hunched-over Nixon's chronic insecurity and social ineptitude with remarkable mimicry, never succumbing to caricature. Incidentally, the most requested photo in the National Archive is of Presley and Nixon shaking hands at the conclusion of their meeting on December 21, 1970. Recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include audio commentary by director Liza Johnson and Elvis entourage member Jerry Schilling (played by Alex Pettyfer in the film), a “Crazy But True” behind-the-scenes featurette (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for this highly fictionalized portrait of a meeting between two major historical figures.] (S. Granger)