Film News
Elvis & Nixon Review
Historical Insignificance
Elvis & Nixon
Director: Liza Johnson
Stars: Kevin Spacey, Michael Shannon, Alex Pettyfer
It is always a bit precarious to base a film on a single incident. Films like Frost/ Nixon work because they have a sizeable and significant historical incident to use as a springboard for a film and they have more to play with. Frost/ Nixon was also helped by the fact that Frank Langella looked a bit like Nixon and Sheen wasn’t a bad facsimile of Frost.
This film is based on a documented incident where Presley met Nixon in December 1970 but what actually passed between them apart from the fact that they actually met is lost to history so the filmmakers have had to concoct their own take on proceedings. Michael Shannon is a good actor with some range and obviously Spacey certainly has some gravitas but neither of them look like who they are playing. This would be less of an issue if the story itself was a compelling one but sadly Elvis & Nixon is one of the flimsiest, thinnest dramas I have seen in quite some time. There are a few moments which are fun as it is impossible for Shannon to make a totally unwatchable film but at the end of the day, there really was no reason for Elvis & Nixon to exist. The meeting was a footnote in history and to try and invest it with any more significance than that was foolish and misconceived. The drama here isn’t dramatic enough and most of the comedy that comes from the meeting of such of a mismatched pair falls flat. It is a film that will be forgotten almost as soon as it is released.
JOEL MEADOWS
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