I saw "The Identical", starring Blake Rayne-a former Elvis impersonator in his first movie; Ray Liotta-The Place Beyond the Pines, Observe and Report; Ashley Judd-Divergent, Olympus Has Fallen and Seth Green-Old Dogs, Without a Paddle.
This is a weird kind of 'What If...' story that parallels the life of Elvis Presley. They use different names but there is no doubt who the story is based on. Most Elvis fans, I'm included, know that Elvis had a brother that died at childbirth. In this film, a depression era family, around 1936, has twin boys and for financial reasons, has to give one of them away-they even claim that he died and they bury an empty box. Ray and Ashley are the lucky couple to receive the give away baby, and most of the movie focuses on him. Ray is a preacher and raises Blake to become a minister, like himself. The other twin, who is also played by Blake, becomes a famous rock and roll singer that is nicknamed 'The Dream'. The only problem is that the plain, preacher's son Blake seems to have a hankering for singing, too. He starts singing and when people keep telling him how much he looks like 'The Dream', he becomes an impersonator called The Identical. Seth plays Blake's childhood friend that is a drummer in the band. When I first heard about this movie, I was wondering if they would use real Elvis songs but I was pleasantly surprised to hear new songs-they do sound like songs that Elvis would have performed-and the star, Blake, does the actual singing-he was an Elvis impersonator in real life, remember? I may be a little prejudiced, being an Elvis fan and all, but I remember seeing Elvis live and not only does Blake look like him but he sounds pretty good, too. It's rated "PG" for smoking and drinking and has a running time of 1 hour & 47 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on Blu-Ray.
This is a weird kind of 'What If...' story that parallels the life of Elvis Presley. They use different names but there is no doubt who the story is based on. Most Elvis fans, I'm included, know that Elvis had a brother that died at childbirth. In this film, a depression era family, around 1936, has twin boys and for financial reasons, has to give one of them away-they even claim that he died and they bury an empty box. Ray and Ashley are the lucky couple to receive the give away baby, and most of the movie focuses on him. Ray is a preacher and raises Blake to become a minister, like himself. The other twin, who is also played by Blake, becomes a famous rock and roll singer that is nicknamed 'The Dream'. The only problem is that the plain, preacher's son Blake seems to have a hankering for singing, too. He starts singing and when people keep telling him how much he looks like 'The Dream', he becomes an impersonator called The Identical. Seth plays Blake's childhood friend that is a drummer in the band. When I first heard about this movie, I was wondering if they would use real Elvis songs but I was pleasantly surprised to hear new songs-they do sound like songs that Elvis would have performed-and the star, Blake, does the actual singing-he was an Elvis impersonator in real life, remember? I may be a little prejudiced, being an Elvis fan and all, but I remember seeing Elvis live and not only does Blake look like him but he sounds pretty good, too. It's rated "PG" for smoking and drinking and has a running time of 1 hour & 47 minutes. I enjoyed it and would buy it on Blu-Ray.