The Identical 2014

Kyle Smith, New York Post: Guys, next time you have the urge to write ultra-generic pop songs, inflict them on guests at your family reunion instead. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: It's not very good, but it's certainly a curiosity. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: [The Identical] unfortunately falls short of fully realizing its provocative high concept. Read more

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, AV Club: Viewers will probably find themselves wishing there was a sense of personality on screen to match the eccentric passion that clearly went into putting the project together. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Elvis Presley made some bad movies, but let's give the King his due: He never made anything as outright awful as "The Identical." Read more

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader: [The Identical] feels like one of the biopic parodies from Mr. Show played completely straight. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The script is so determined to deliver an upbeat message of faith and love, it forgets to be interesting. Read more

Kate Erbland, Film.com: The music-heavy second half doesn't zip with much pizzazz, and even the film's many dips into song-and-dance fail to keep it moving along with anything resembling style. By its third act, things have flatlined. Read more

Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter: The Identical gets the job done adequately enough. This passably palatable film never hits any real high notes, however. Read more

Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times: "The Identical" is ultimately too schematically sentimental, even with Liotta playing against type, to have much of an impact. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Elvis slash fiction that could have been written by a spinster church organist. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Where is all this going, you ask? Good question. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: The cast is as scattershot as a moonshiner's raccoon hunt. Read more

Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times: A jukebox musical that takes time revealing its goofy absurdity. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: Trading strictly in visual and narrative cliches, The Identical is so solemn and silly that at times you could swear it was a lampoon. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: The filmmakers use such a straight-laced and schmaltzy approach that "The Identical" might as well be a Hallmark TV movie. Read more

Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The Identical" has grand ambitions, but they fall flat amid a muddled message and a strong whiff of righteousness. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: Connoisseurs of the most wonderfully terrible cinema need to run out and catch this one early and often. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Elvis may have left the building, but a bland impersonator has made his way onto the big screen in a contrived twins-separated-at-birth movie. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: It's stocked with cliches, but they're arranged in such weird ways that the end result is both predictable and certifiable. If only any of it actually went somewhere. Read more

Stephanie Merry, Washington Post: "The Identical" occupies a neglected niche as a family-friendly movie that isn't geared just toward kids. But living up to a legend is an uphill battle, and the movie doesn't ever reach those heights. Read more