{"id":34833,"date":"2014-09-04T20:53:53","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T00:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=34833"},"modified":"2018-12-08T22:15:11","modified_gmt":"2018-12-09T03:15:11","slug":"new-releases-september-5-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/04\/new-releases-september-5-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"New Releases: September 5, 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheIdenticalposter\"<\/a>1. The Identical (Freestyle Releasing, 1,956 Theaters, Rated PG for thematic material and smoking): <\/strong>There was a segment on the 1980’s version of The Twilight Zone<\/strong> called “The Once and Future King” that has stayed with me. The feature, written by George R.R. Martin of Game of Thrones <\/strong>fame, detailed an Elvis Impersonator who is magically transported back to the 1950’s where he meets his idol. Elvis mistakes the man for his long deceased twin brother. The impersonator tries to use this to help Elvis avoid the mistakes he made in his career, but this causes friction that results in the death of the original Elvis. The impersonator then decides to assume the King’s identity and make the same choices he did as a tribute.<\/p>\n

Maybe the writers of this one was sort of inspired by that show when writing this oddball film.<\/p>\n

The film focuses on a pair of twins mistakenly separated in the 1930s. One stays with his sharecropper parents and becomes “Drexel Hemsley” an international recoding star. His twin becomes Ryan Wade, the son of a preacher who eventually becomes the world’s foremost Elvis…er..Drexel impersonator. Ryan becomes torn between following in his father’s legacy and a life on the stage and his desire to play his own music and playing Drexel’s.<\/p>\n

Obviously, we are meant to think Drexel Hemsley is Elvis Presley. Blake Rayne, who plays Hemsley and Wade, is an Elvis impersonator. Hemsley sing Elvis-like song, stars in Elvis-like movies, and has Elvis-like moves. Kinda wonder why they have to use a pastiche here when the Twilight Zone didn’t need to.