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Not Burning Love

On the morning of December 21, 1970, mega-star Elvis Presley went to the White House, without being invited, and requested a meeting with President Nixon. Elvis was disgusted with the political turmoil that saw kids getting into drugs and protesting the Vietnam War and he believed that he could best serve his country as an undercover agent for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

Amazingly, this actually happened, although what happens in the rest of Liza Johnson's "Elvis and Nixon", which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, is guesswork. The only thing we know for certain is displayed in the iconic photo of Presley and Nixon shaking hands in the White House.

The story opens with Elvis (Michael Shannon) lounging in front of five television sets that are all turned on. Many display the political upheavals of the era. In disgust, Elvis pulls out a gun and shoots out a couple of the screens, a habit he was known to perform on occasion. He's had it and he wants to do something about it. It's funny that when Elvis began his career he was anything but part of the power structure. He was shunned and feared by the establishment as a pair of gyrating hips that conjured up a sort of sexual depravity to them. Then he ends up aligned with Mr. Nixon.

Michael Shannon is one of my favorite actors, but at first I had trouble with him as Elvis, though he's enough of a talent that I soon bought into it. Kevin Spacey, another very talented actor and an excellent impressionist (Google him impersonating Walter Matthau), does a great job with Tricky Dick Nixon, especially with the way he carries himself.

The problem with "Elvis and Nixon" is that it resides somewhere between drama and comedy. It never becomes very dramatic, at all. It works best when it's goofing on both of them, which is a good part of it. It especially works from the moment Elvis enters the Oval Office until he leaves, mostly because we get to watch two great actors play off each other. It's fun watching a battle of wits by two people totally outside the loop of his counterpart's world.

"Elvis and Nixon" has moments of pleasant amusement, but not enough of them. It was entertaining enough for me to put it in the plus column. If you're Lonesome Tonight, it's worth it.