FilmSnobReviews

Title: Elvis & Nixon
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Liza Johnson
Starring: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettyfer
Runtime: 1 hr 26 mins

What It Is: The story of one of the strangest days in the political history of the United States, the day President Richard Nixon (Spacey) had “The King” Elvis Presley (Shannon) visit the White House. This is the story of that moment. A moment that is immortalized in a photo forever. This photo just so happens to be the most request in the National Archives. This is a story that features more than you might think, including a backdrop of espionage and a potential job as an agent of the CIA.

What We Think: Far be it for me to tell Michael Shannon anything but his portrayal of Elvis is severely unimpressive. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean to say it isn’t a good performance because it is, it just lacks a certain charisma you’d expect to see out of Elvis. On the other hand, Spacey nails Nixon. It walks that line between performance and impression and does so with finesse. Alex Pettyfer, Colin Hanks, and even Johnny Knoxville are good ancillary characters. Even young Sky Ferreira is good in her small role. Johnson does an incredibly good job here of directing the action while letting her actors paint the scene.

Our Grade: B-, Overall an interesting story and good performances make this one of 2016’s most interesting pictures. I will definitely recommend everyone go and see this as it is such an interesting story that it’ll keep you invested enough. If you can see past Shannon’s Elvis-lite you’re in for a treat. Outside of this though there is some fun to have just sadly not enough to make it one of 2016’s best. If that’s what your looking for perhaps quell those expectations.