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‘Elvis & Nixon’ speculates on a very odd moment in history

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I’ll mention this tidbit again before the week is out, but a lot of things debuting currently at the Tribeca Film Festival are also just hitting theaters this weekend as well. One such movie is Elvis & Nixon, which I’ve seen and enjoyed for the most part. I don’t especially think it’s an awards player, but as speculative entertainment and a festival entry, it certainly does the trick, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. Mostly, it’s an effectively comedic star vehicle for Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey, as well as a mild satire. It won’t blow you away, but it likely will make you giggle a fair amount. The film is a look at what led up to the most requested photograph in the National Archives, which is an image of President Richard Nixon (Spacey) shaking hands with Elvis Presley (Shannon) in the Oval Office. Blending fact and fiction, we follow along as Elvis decides he needs an audience with Nixon in order to become deputized as a federal agent. He heads from Nashville, first to Los Angeles to recruit friend/associate/pseudo manager Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer), and then to Washington DC to attempt to crash the White House. Initially, Nixon refuses, but staff members Egil Krogh (Colin Hanks) and Dwight Chapin (Evan Peters) eventually talk him into it. The rest, essentially, is history. Liza Johnson directs a screenplay from Joey Sagal, Hanala Sagal, and Cary Elwes (yes, the actor). Supporting players here include Johnny Knoxville, Sky Ferreira, Tracy Letts, Tate Donovan, and Ashley Benson, among others. What makes Elvis & Nixon work is how light yet enjoyable a tone it takes with a concept that should probably come off as too ridiculous to work, even if it’s true. Shannon and Spacey are clearly having fun, and it rubs off on the audience. When not focused on either one of them, the film lags, but when they’re on the screen, and especially in their climatic meeting, sparks do tend to fly. The movie is far from perfect, but it’s so odd that it just plain winds up working. It’s a lighthearted satire that leaves you with a smile on your face, and that’s something. It was interesting for me to compare Spacey’s real life interpretation of a President here to his fictional one on Netflix’s House of Cards. Whereas in the latter project he’s almost Shakespearian in his darkness, here he basically puts forward [...]

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