The Identical

PG

Released Sep 5, 2014

1 hr. 47 min.

Drama

List

6%

69 Reviews

Tomatometer

62%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley (Blake Rayne) becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade (also Rayne), struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.

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Critics Consensus

With nearly every element ringing as hollow as the ersatz Elvis at the story's core, The Identical looks destined for a bright future on the ironic viewing circuit.

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Roz C

Great movie with realistic storyline. Ryan Pelton shines as both twins and shows off his musical and acting talents.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/24

Full Review

Glenn T

An unmitigated disaster. I was curious to compare it to the film that was actually about Elvis. This. Was. A. Mistake. The premise was interesting and that's where anything remotely valuable ends. Do yourself a huge favor and sit in a dark room imagining what would have happened had Elvis' twin survived. This will be infinitely more entertaining and productive than watching this film. I rarely write reviews but this movie was so bad that I feel compelled. From the story, to the writing, to the performances, it was all just embarrassing. So full of cliches that one could mistake it for a parody film if you didn't know better. Writers have to do better. Producers have to choose better. Directors have to do better. Actors, well actors would read the ingredients from a cereal box if you paid them, but they didn't even try to make their craptacular characters believable. Folks - in everyday life, speaking is nothing more than organizing the emotions you feel into recognizable sounds that we can words. That's what language is: emotion that you can hear. These performances contained zero authentic emotion. They were acting. The veterans who are great actors were collecting a paycheck and the unknowns were super psyched to be in a "real" movie with "big" stars but forgot to behave authentically under imaginary circumstances and tried to just "act." It went badly for everyone involved.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

03/15/23

Full Review

bridget l

It's nice to watch a good movie without all the usually required sex scenes, cursing, and drugs. It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon movie.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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nate m

The critics got it wrong. This is an enjoyable movie. The acting is good and the script is ok. Sure, the ending is predictable, but the scenes keep you interested. It's not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Would be better if they used actual Elvis songs. But a good "what if" movie.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The identical starts off pretty good with an interesting story that unfortunately by the end delivers no pay off. The movie feels like a Christian movie and then a hard rock Elvis impersonator movie the other half. The movie is a little over long. I enjoyed the message but I wish the execution was better.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/24/19

Full Review

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Dustin Marcellino

Director

Blake Rayne

Drexel Hemsley

Ashley Judd

Louise Wade

Ray Liotta

Reece Wade

Erin Cottrell

Jenny

Brian Geraghty

William Hemsley

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Scott Tobias

The Dissolve

Rock fantasies are rarely this milquetoast.

Rated: 1.5/5

Sep 5, 2014

Full Review

Rafer Guzman

Newsday

Where is all this going, you ask? Good question.

Rated: 1.5/4

Sep 5, 2014

Full Review

Bilge Ebiri

New York Magazine/Vulture

It's stocked with clichs, 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.

Sep 5, 2014

Full Review

Cory Woodroof

Williamson Home Page

The Identical has a good heart, but the good heart is enshrouded in a bad idea.

Feb 11, 2022

Full Review

Allen Almachar

The MacGuffin

I admit I couldn't take my eyes off the screen, it was just too weird not to be engaged with it.

Rated: C-

Jul 20, 2020

Full Review

Micheal Compton

Bowling Green Daily News

Too goofy to take seriously and too heavy-handed to dismiss as a so-bad-it-is-good guilty pleasure.

Jan 25, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

During the Great Depression, identical twins are separated at birth. One, Drexel Hemsley (Blake Rayne) becomes a wildly successful '50s rock star, while the other, Ryan Wade (also Rayne), struggles to balance his passion for music and pleasing his parents, who want him to become a preacher. Finally, Ryan rebels against his parents' wishes and launches his own music career -- performing the hits of Drexel Hemsley. Ryan later learns the truth about Drexel when their fates tragically collide.

Director: Dustin Marcellino
Executive Producer: Michael Edious Johnson, Ray Liotta
Screenwriter: Howard Klausner
Distributor: Freestyle Releasing
Production Co: Identical Production Company, City of Peace Films
Rating: PG (Thematic Material|Smoking)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 5, 2014, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 5, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.8M

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