ELVIS & NIXON Trailer: Like A Feature-Length SNL Sketch

Could be good! Might also be awful.

By Jan. 11, 2016

Usually trailers not only provide a look at what a film has to offer but also a feeling toward whether or not they will be any good. Occasionally, a trailer will instead confuse that issue. This Elvis & Nixon trailer is one of those:

This trailer actually came out a couple days ago but fell through the cracks a bit. Now that it’s here, I find it very hard to determine whether this strange-ass movie, in which Michael Shannon plays Elvis and Kevin Spacey plays R. Milhous Nixon, will have any real substance to go along with its inspired casting.

I call it inspired casting, but I don’t know if that inspiration extends beyond the conceptual stage. It’s fun to see these guys do their thing in a trailer, but so far their takes on these figures seem only skin deep. Furthermore, I can’t see how this story goes beyond a single Act. What’s the structure going to be?

Obviously, my mind is not made up. What do you guys think? 

Elvis & Nixon comes out April 15.

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