ELVIS & NIXON (2016)

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Liza Johnson
Cast: Michael Shannon, Kevin Spacey, Alex Pettier, Johnny Knoxville, Colin Hanks, Evan Peters
Runtime: 1 hr 27 mins
Rating: PG13
Released By: Cathay-Keris Films
Official Website: http://www.bleeckerstreetmedia.com/elvisandnixon

Opening Day: 19 May 2016

Synopsis: On a December morning in 1970, the King of Rock ’n’ Roll showed up on the lawn of the White House to request a meeting with the most powerful man in the world, President Richard Nixon. Starring Academy Award-nominee Michael Shannon as Presley and two-time Academy Award-winner Kevin Spacey as Nixon, Elvis & Nixon tells the untold story behind this revealing yet humorous moment in the Oval Office forever immortalized in the most requested photograph in the National Archives.

Movie Review:

Had it not been based on one of the odder footnotes in presidential history, you would probably have dismissed ‘Elvis & Nixon’ as hogwash – and it is perhaps this same sense of disbelief which explains why a photograph of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll shaking hands with the then-President of the United States on December 21 1970 after their meeting in the Oval Office has become the most requested image from the National Archives. As absurdists and pop-culture fanatics will gladly tell you, it was on that day Elvis Presley asked President Nixon to be appointed a federal agent at large (there is apparently no such thing) so that he can go undercover and do his utmost to combat “the drug culture, the hippie elements, the SDS, Black Panthers, etc” that are ruining the country he loves.

If that sounds like the musings of a mildly delusional person, that’s because the Elvis of 1970 was somewhat past his glorious youthful prime, and besides inveighing against the Beatles in particular and the Age of Aquarius over all, Mr Presley was spending his time in front of multiple TV screens at his Graceland home, infamously shooting them when he was bored. Beginning with such an unmistakable shot to hint at Elvis’ mental state, this comic fictionalisation traces the chain of events that led to the meeting and culminates in the encounter itself between the entertainment icon (think jeweled sunglasses, silk scarf, open shirt and giant gold belt) and a pre-Watergate Nixon just two years into his term as President who couldn’t care less about popular culture.

With an opening crawl which reminds us that no official transcript exists of the title encounter (such that ‘if it didn’t happen the way it does here, it should have’), screenwriters Joey Sagal, Hanala Sagal and Cary Elwes frame Elvis’ idée fixe as his frustration with what he sees as the breakdown of values among the young in America and his belief that he can speak to them like no one else can. So he grabs a flight from Memphis to Los Angeles, where he recruits his longtime buddy Jerry Schilling (Alex Pettyfer) and is later on joined by one of his Memphis Mafia cronies Sonny West (Johnny Knoxville), before heading to Washington D.C. En route to the capital, Elvis scribbles a letter to the President on American Airlines stationery requesting to be Nixon’s ally, which he then hand-delivers to the startled marine guards at the west gate of the White House one morning at 6.30 a.m.

On the presidential side, two of his aides who would later be implicated in the Watergate scandal, Egil Kroh and Dwight Chapin (Colin Hanks and Evan Peters), are delighted at the letter – not only are they personal fans, they also realise the public relations value of a photo op with the King, especially to show the youth of the world that the hawkish Nixon was really a cool guy at heart. Only when Egil arm-twists Nixon by telling the latter’s star-struck daughter Julie about the proposed encounter does the President reluctantly agree, though only for a short five minutes. Unsurprisingly, the meeting goes on for much longer, and though Elvis deliberately ignores Egil’s instruction not to touch the bowl of M&Ms and bottle of Dr Pepper meant for the President, Elvis will have Nixon eating out of the palm of his hand after sharing the latter’s disdain for the counter-culture and gifting the latter with a chrome-plated World World II Colt .45.

Because Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey are such brilliant actors, the meeting is literally a howl. Though Shannon looks nothing like Elvis (despite imitating the high-winged collars and woolly sideburns), he captures his character’s understated cool and sly swagger on the outside while channelling his delusions of self-importance and grandiosity on the inside. As a canny impressionist with superb mimicry skills, Spacey gets down pat the hunched posture, the wary glances, and the nervous rhythms of Nixon's speech, but the more impressive achievement here is how he portrays his character’s inner convictions during the almost farcical meeting while showing how much of a klutz he turns out to be by the end of the visit that he had never wanted at the start.

One could certainly lament that director Liza Johnson does not attempt to dig any deeper than the oddity of the much-vaunted moment in history, and anyone looking for some commentary on the politics of Nixon’s presidency will indeed be sorely disappointed. And yet, what it lacks in ambition, it makes up for in sheer comic lunacy, including a run-in with some Elvis impersonators at the airport who assume the real Elvis is one of them and an encounter with real-life Justice Department narcotics administrator John Finlator (Tracy Letts) who can barely contain his mockery for Elvis’ request. You would also do well not to keep wondering whether what you’re seeing actually happened; rather, ‘Elvis & Nixon’ just wants to be a fun little film, and that – in addition to seeing two first-rate actors play off each other – is just where it finds its groove. 

Movie Rating:

(Putting aside any and every mention of politics, this genially funny comedy based on an unlikely event in history is a brilliant showcase of two first-rate actors)

Review by Gabriel Chong