Elvis & Nixon

Everything is wrong about this movie. Mike Shannon as Elvis is languid, lazy, idle, slow, vapid, vague, empty, slight, mediocre, yawning, silly and absolutely unconvincing. Kevin Spacey as Nixon is truly awful. This is not even a parody. This is just a plain bad second (no, fourth) rate actor trying to impersonate somebody who is remotely similar to Dick Nixon. And this is all wrong, skewed, wry, shallow and thin. The film pace is a very poor resemblance to Ocean's Eleven - even the lounge soundtrack is very similar. The setting is blurred and almost nonsensical. Secondary characters are all horrid and very badly acting. In fact, the whole movie seems like a young student take on non- commercial Diploma Film for a grade. Eh, and it failed. So, I was totally disappointed and skipped this awful parody. Avoid it at all costs, you will see no Nixon, No King and No real essence here.

Since I knew this movie only had two showings today which I interpreted as being gone by this Friday, I told my movie theatre-working friend I definitely wanted to watch this one this week. So we did, and I-and perhaps he-were fascinated by all the depictions of what might have possibly been discussed between The King of Rock 'n' Roll and the 37th President of the United States that day on December 21, 1970. There's also some partly interesting stuff involving some of Nixon's staff and Elvis' friends who come with him to Washington, D.C. Certainly, there's also some pretty funny stuff involving some of the young adult females and how they react when seeing the popular singer arriving toward them. I mean, Michael Shannon as Presley and Kevin Spacey as Richard Milhous are entertaining to watch when they are together. So on that note, I say give Elvis & Nixon a look.

Wanted to like as am a big Elvis fan and know the story of the meeting well. This is nowhere near as good as the TV movie of similar name. No idea why they made it again. Michael Shannon's portrayal of Elvis is too understated and is boring! Much more interesting is the real story which is on you-tube at some white house event with Schilling and Krogh present to recount the story themselves which does not need anything adding to it. I feel I need to watch the TV movie to cleanse myself of this terribly inferior offering. Every scene is inferior to the TV movie. Sorry - really wanted to like it. They don't need to make a third one.

This film almost passed me by until I stumbled across it on Amazon Prime. From the 'in period' opening credits to the bad wigs to the bro's in the coffee shop the cheese is strong and thick, but it's a very enjoyable film whichever way you approach it. Michael Shannon (who was completely new to me) neither looks nor sounds like Elvis but somehow fills the role very well, exposing a rather sad, isolated individual who just wants to be noticed for something other than being 'The King'. But the film is stolen IMO by Kevin Spacey, who captures ol' Tricky Dicky perfectly - the growling voice, the stoop, the hand gestures. Not only that, but he injects a wry wit to his part which goes a long way toward lifting this movie out of a dullness which threatened to engulf it at several points. I could easily watch it again.

Having been an Elvis fan for the past 46 years, I was enraged by Michael Shannon's portrayal. He is both too old and too coarse in appearance to play Elvis. Elvis was full of light and energy. This actor is flat, one dimensional and appears to be under the influence of large amounts of Thorazine. Pathetic! I am not sure who was in charge of casting, but they missed the boat entirely. the movie was labeled a comedy but I never found anything funny about it.

It would be hard to write any spoilers for this film, it was spoiled in the making. There is no plot to give away. If you have been suffering from insomnia, this is a film to help you cure it. Kevin Spacey as Nixon is really fun to watch, but we only see a little of that. It makes one wish that someone would make a movie about Nixon during the Watergate period - sort of like "All the President's Men" but showing some of it from Nixon's point of view, with Spacey playing Nixon. That would be fantastic. But he is wasted in this film. It is hard to believe that Elvis was really so boring in real life as he appears in this film. Not a minute of anything even remotely interesting in this characterization of him. No singing, no performing, just monotone lunacy and phenomenal self-absorption. Colin Hanks is entertaining in his role, reminds one more and more of his father. Maybe he could get some better roles in a better movie to show some of his talent. I give the film 3 points: 2 for Spacey's excellent portrayal of Nixon and 1 for Colin Hanks. But the rest of the movie is so bad that it is not worth watching just to catch the few minutes of Spacey's Nixon, as the rest is so bad that it ruins anything worth watching.

I expected more. The actor portraying Elvis is better suited to the Addams family. No looks or charisma. Kevin Spacey did a good job. The movie had so much potential, but nothing really worked the way it was presented. Elvis could have been portrayed by a cardboard cut out and carried from scene to scene. The donut shop scene was insulting and racist. I remember this event well and found it ironic that a big pill user would want to be a drug enforcement agent. The put down of the counterculture was ironic since Elvis was himself considered a threat to decency in the beginning of his career. All in all a poorly made film.

Casting in a movie like this is supremely important because the content is not favorable or intriguing and as a matter of fact bizarre. It only holds value in that its a true story with two famous people involved. Shannon does a terrible job attempting and failing to portray Elvis as he might have been at the time. His moves facially and bodily are not consistent with Elvis moves. His speech mannerisms suffer greatly as well. Shannon is a very good actor but he should have not taken the part. Did he ever see Elvis in any of his portrayals? Elvis at 35 years old he was an extremely handsome and a vibrant person. Shannon looks lots older and could not begin to look like Elvis. Take a look at the 68 comeback special to see what he looked like then check out Shannon and his looks. Sorry ...we are Elvis fans forever and this portrayal was horrible. Spacey as Nixon was also poor.Its not his fault. He captured very little of what Nixon looked or sounded like. With Shannon its the same but of the two Spacey was better. We gave them all the benefit of the doubt but the next day we felt the movie is very flawed. Its a shame that we as fans lost the opportunity to enjoy a performance that would have more celebrated Elvis Life instead of demeaning it.

When I was in High School, I recall skimming through the Government & Politics textbook where I saw the iconic picture of musical icon Elvis Presley and U.S. president Richard Nixon. It was a part of a section that had to do with how different generations viewed their president. It said something about how this simple image was an attempt to show that Nixon was "hip and with it". At the time, the picture had little interest in me except that these two very different people were together for a handshake. Now I think how oddly enough, both men had a lot in common. Both grew up in poor families. Both had served in the military. Both were conservative. But most importantly, both were well known, but for different reasons. Nixon was the leader of the free world and was in total control, but managed to keep his family life secret. Elvis was so famous that his image was practically the only thing people thought about without knowing the real guy. They see Elvis and think about their first concert or song. What was said during that infamous meting remains a mystery, but Elvis & Nixon tries to put a more humorous spin in what transpired. An aging Elvis Presley (played by Michael Shannon) sees nothing but youth protesting on television and this he feels needs to be changed. He flies to Los Angeles to meet up with his longtime friend Jerry Schilling (played by Alex Pettyfer) and reveals that he wants to be made an "undercover agent at large" to infiltrate concerts, hippie communes, and more to catch drug dealers. Despite such a ridiculous request, the two catch another plane to Washington D.C. and literally drive up to the White House gate asking to meet with the president. This sudden arrival from the King puts the entire White House staff, including the secret service in surprise. With only a letter explaining what he wants, a top official Egil Krogh (played by Colin Hanks) brings it up with President Richard Nixon (played by Kevin Spacy). Nixon immediately says no, despite being informed that a short meeting could do well with getting the youth vote. Through means that I won't spoil, Elvis gets his appointment and the two chat about a variety of things; the youth, the responsibilities of both, and for Elvis, his desired undercover badge. Part of me thinks that if Elvis & Nixon was in the hands of someone like the Coen Brothers or Scorsese, this might have been a hard drama with an in depth study on the two. This however is nothing like that. In fact, Elvis & Nixon is closer to a comedy. And I laughed! I was surprised by how much I chuckled at the various ramblings of Elvis and the simply absurdity of his request to the president. I think most viewers will catch right away that this is meant to be a comedy (I didn't even mention that Johnny Knoxville is also in the story as a member of the Memphis Mafia). Much of the pressure is on Michael Shannon to play Elvis, who really hits a home run here. He looks, sounds, and even made me forget that there was an actor under the Elvis hear and sunglasses. My bigger concern was on Kevin Spacy who thankfully makes for an adequate Nixon (though I prefer Frank Langella's version from Frost/Nixon). The meeting depicted doesn't have a lot to say about the time period and the troubles the current generation us under, but the writing makes up for it by simply letting their personalities take over and to simply let them be who they are. I was surprised by how much I liked this. I'll give this eight famous pictures of Elvis and Nixon out of ten. This is a rare historical movie that really isn't trying to be a griping story, but rather an entertaining comedy. I'm glad a saw this. Take a further glance into that photograph and consider going deeper with Elvis & Nixon.