Elvis & Nixon (2016)

People are voting emotionally.

How sad is this?

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

"Elvis & Nixon" from 2016 is the partially-fictionalized story of the famous meeting between the rock 'n' roll star and President Richard Nixon. I say partially fictionalized because Nixon hadn't yet started taping everything, but there are true elements, as much of this story came from someone who was there, Jerry Schilling, played here by Alex Petyfer.Elvis got it into his head that he wanted to go undercover as an FBI agent and snuff out drug dealers. But for his efforts, he wanted a badge. Since Elvis was on drugs himself, one questions the whole operation. However naive he may have been, though, the King genuinely wanted to do some good. It's not known if he ever did go undercover. Elvis here is played by Michael Shannon. He doesn't look like Elvis, but tinted glasses, a black wig, a jumpsuit, and gold jewelry will take you far when it comes to Elvis. He has the soft southern voice and the politeness that Elvis was known for, as well his feeling of being trapped by the "Elvis" persona. He's also hilarious - after being told not to drink the Dr. Pepper, as it is for the President, and not to eat the M&Ms, as they're for the President, he asks for a bottle opener and starts downing M&Ms. Kevin Spacey is a brilliant Nixon - he has the voice, the posture, and the facial expressions.As others have pointed out, the photo of Elvis and Nixon is the most requested photo in the National Archives.Not much happens in this low-key film, but due to the star performances, it manages to be entertaining.

Good performances, tongue in cheek comedy, worth watching if you haven't yet heard the story.Still not as funny as the 1997 original Elvis Meets Nixon, narrated by Dick Cavett. That was a quicker paced outright 'mockumentary', no big names but excellent acting all the way. Hard to find though.

I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. My wife skipped, her loss because this is a very good and entertaining movie.Today we can read about it in the archives, in December of 1970 Elvis and a couple of his friends went to D.C., gave a letter that Elvis had written, for the White House guards to have delivered to President 'Tricky Dickie' Nixon (who a few years later resigned in a scandal). It seems that Elvis collected badges and he wanted one from the USA's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. What started out as Nixon requesting that the meeting, during his lunch hour, be limited to 5 minutes he found Elvis so fascinating that they met for much longer. Michael Shannon, superb actor in a variety of roles, is Elvis. As he said in the DVD extra he wasn't trying to do an impression of Elvis, instead he wanted to portray him in a way that was authentic to the character.And one of my personal favorites, Kevin Spacey is Nixon and from the voice and the mannerisms it was almost like seeing the real Richard Nixon.The movie is very interesting and entertaining, much more than I expected going into it. What may seem like a rather dry topic for a movie turns out to be much, much more than that.

This is my first review, ever.I am a film person, love a lot of genres. Would not consider myself a film buff or whatever that term insinuates.In a nutshell the acting outshines this story. Kevin Spacey clearly being gifted at playing the President does it once again. I am a JFK person so learning about Nixon is something new. However, this should have been about Shannon and his delivery which was exemplary.Great film.