'Identical' betrays the religion of early rock
Elvis may have left the building, but a bland impersonator has made his way onto the big screen in a contrived twins-separated-at-birth movie.
It's not hard to imagine how The Identical might have been conceived. Starting with a germ of history — Elvis had a stillborn twin brother — the thinking might have been: What if that brother had lived? What if the twins were separated within hours of their births? And what if the non-famous twin became his spot-on impersonator? What then, huh? Throw in a stern preacher and some heavy-handed biblical references and run with it (* 1/2 out of four; rated PG; opens Friday in select cities).
It's an idea that might have made for a mildly intriguing skit, but blown out into a full-length feature it's at best campy and at worst an amateurish, sentimental schlock-fest.
The casting is off-base, and for a movie about the love of music, the original tunes are thoroughly forgettable.
Ray Liotta overacts as Rev. Reece Wade, adoptive father of Ryan (Blake Rayne), who grows up being groomed for the ministry. Ashley Judd dully plays Reece's wife and Ryan's adoptive mother, Louise. We're told through heavy-handed narration that she's "smitten with the boy's gift" for music.
It turns out that Ryan and his identical twin were born in Alabama during the Great Depression to impoverished parents Helen (Amanda Crew) and William Hemsley (Brian Geraghty). Just after the birth of his sons, William saw Rev. Wade preach at a revival meeting, and decided his sons could have a better life if raised by the childless preacher and his wife. Helen is stricken at the thought, so aiming for Solomonic wisdom, William decides they can afford to keep one child.
William hands over one of his infants to the Wades, saying "It's better to give than to receive." His only stipulation is that they promise to keep the boy's origin story a secret.
Somehow — it's never explained or shown — William and Helen's other son, Drexel (also played by Rayne), grows up to become a pop star, one of the earliest rock 'n' rollers. And he just happens to look like Elvis Presley.
His doppelganger Ryan grows up ensconced in church life, singing in the choir and sneaking out to roadhouses and honky-tonks.
The clunky narration elaborates: "When that music started, it was like a fire erupted in that heart of his."
Rev. Wade finds out his son has been dabbling in "the devil's music" and ships Ryan off to the Army.
But Ryan is a rebel without claws. Nothing seems to faze him. Certainly, his days in uniform don't dampen his love for music. Ryan's wife Jenny (Erin Cottrell) urges him to compete in a two-bit contest to determine who sounds most like Drexel "The Dream" Helmsley. A cloaked figure in a cowboy hat improbably shows up in the rinky-dink auditorium just before Ryan's set, points him out as the obvious winner, then disappears as mysteriously as he came. Guess who? And why does he leave?
"The Dream" (meant to be confused with "the King") is hardly shown, inexplicably given short shrift in favor of Ryan and his pallid tale.
Perhaps the only vaguely interesting element is how Ryan feels he can "see right inside" of Drexel, underscoring the closeness of twins, even if raised separately.
The film is a simplified, sanitized look at the early days of rock 'n' roll. The clichéd story is further undermined by an awkwardly extraneous religious/political segment on Israel's Six-Day War.
Mostly, however, The Identical spends too much time on unremarkable musical numbers and too little on character development, credible plotting and dialogue.
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