The Identical

Man, this was baaad. This was shockingly bad. The fact that this movie got a wide theatrical release is kind of baffling to me. I guess I can say I'm glad I witnessed this trainwreck once, but I highly doubt I'll be watching it again.

Despite the rating, it's such an amazingly bad movie. I thoroughly enjoy it.

This one's hard to rate. The acting, directing, dialogue and over-the-top religious agenda are so bad, I wanted to get up and leave in the first few minutes. But I go hooked on the original music, including the blues stuff at the first. The basic story, if you can ignore the above negative elements, is intriguing (Elvis did have a stillborn identical twin). And Blacke Rayne's (that name, ugh) singing voice sounds like an identical twin to Elvis'.

Great original story. Highly underappreciated.

These contrasting illustrations of how it is we're supposed to decide what our calling is--what we're actually supposed to do--make The Identical a terrific springboard to an after-movie conversation about our own lives. What do we care about? What are we most passionate about? How have we had opportunities to use those gifts and passions? Where have we felt stymied or run into roadblocks? Does God ever just talk to us directly, or do we always have to figure this stuff out on our own? (pluggedin)

Identical twins (Blake Rayne) are separated at birth; one becomes a rock star and the other becomes famous as his "identical", but neither realizes the truth. Shocking waste of a decent premise (based on Elvis' own stillborn twin) is topped by the waste of a good cast; Ray Liotta, Seth Green, and Joe Pantoliano give profoundly embarrassed performances. Rayne is passable, but has no real character to play. There's supposedly a Jews for Jesus message here, but it amounts to nothing. Worthless.