Elvis & Nixon
Director: Liza Johnson
Talent: Kevin Spacey, Michael Shannon, Alex Pettyfer, Johnny Knoxville
Release Date: 24th June
Elvis & Nixon dramatises a meeting between Elvis Presley and the then President of the United States Richard Nixon on 21st December 1970. The story goes that Elvis, sensing unrest in America, wanted to go undercover for Nixon’s government as an “agent at large” to infiltrate and bust drug rings, motorcycle gangs, protest groups, etc. In Elvis & Nixon, Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey play the two titular American idols: this casting should give you some indication of the film’s approach to the material.
This movie is a curio. Both actors showcase enthusiastic but largely trifling interpretations of these famous figures. Spacey is a full-on ham, portraying Nixon like some crazed newspaper editor in a Howard Hawks screwball comedy. Shannon’s Elvis is an innocent but idealistic manchild, but he looks too character-actor for Presley, his face is too stern, and when any serious acting takes place it feels jarring. Elvis & Nixon is fun and frivolous, you’ll enjoy it but it won’t stay with you.
Words: Luke Maxwell
