The Identical

How do you make a movie about Elvis Presley that virtually ignores him and features none of his music? The solution favored by filmmaker Dustin Marcellino is to imagine an entirely different rocker of the ‘50s—a guy named Drexel Hemsley—who looks and sounds like The King (he's even played by Elvis impersonator Blake Rayne), and then provide him with newly-written songs that are pale reflections of Presley standards. But the movie isn't even about Drexel, who appears only peripherally; instead it focuses on Ryan—his identical twin—who was adopted shortly after birth by a minister and his wife (Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd) and was never told about his real family. Ryan is pressured by the man he believes to be his biological father to go into the ministry, but his love of music tugs him in another direction, and he eventually he becomes a Hemsley impersonator who is so good that when Hemsley dies, Ryan carries on his posthumous legacy (while also proving his individuality by inserting his own music into the act). It's weirdly fascinating to see the constant allusions to Presley's life that pop up throughout The Identical (starting with the fact that Elvis did have a stillborn twin), but that's not enough to make up for either the narrative absurdities or Rayne's stiff performance. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a soundtrack featurette (6 min.) and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a “making-of” featurette (21 min.), deleted scenes (16 min.), a behind-the-scenes featurette (15 min.), a promo (4 min.), and a bonus DVD copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an uneven film.] (F. Swietek)