''The Identical'' is a 2014 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by Dustin Marcellino and written by Howard Klausner. The film was released theatrically in the United States on September 5, 2014. It was universally panned by both critics and audiences, and only grossed $2.8 million on a $16 million budget.

Plot

After Helen and William Hemsley give birth to

identical twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

boys, the brothers are separated at birth during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Drexel Hemsley becomes an iconic 1950s

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

star, while Ryan Wade, born Dexter Hemsley, struggles to balance his love for music with pleasing his father. The Reverend Reece Wade and his wife Louise are sure that their adopted son has been gifted and called by God to be a preacher. However, Ryan challenges his parents' vision for his life, and unflinchingly chooses to launch his own music career with his best friend Dino. Encouraged by his wife Jenny and employer Avi, Ryan embarks on an unpredictable, provocative path – performing the legendary music of Drexel Hemsley in sold-out venues across the country. As the brothers' destinies intertwine, Ryan discovers that Drexel is his long-lost twin brother.

Cast

Release

Critical reception

''The Identical'' was universally panned by critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds a rating of 6%, based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10. The site's consensus states: "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." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a score of 25 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Randy Cordova wrote in ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

'': "

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

made some bad movies, but let's give the King his due: He never made anything as outright awful as ''The Identical''." ''

Quad-City Times The ''Quad-City Times'' is a daily morning newspaper based in Davenport, Iowa, and circulated throughout the Quad Cities metropolitan area, including Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, an ...

'' film critic Linda Cook wrote: "Fans of bad movies, please note: This is a must-see. This is so bad it must be seen to be believed — " Showgirls" bad, a vision that slowly goes wrong, then terribly wrong, then hits disaster levels. In a sense, it's an

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novelist. In the 1950s, Wood directed several B movie, low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult c ...

-ian exercise in wrong."

Box office

''The Identical'' grossed $1.6 million in its opening weekend, finishing in 12th place at the box office. The film was pulled from theaters after playing for only three weeks, during which it grossed $2.8 million, far below its $16-million budget, making it a

box office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Identical, The 2014 films 2010s musical drama films American independent films American musical drama films 2014 independent films Films about evangelicalism Films about music and musicians Films about twin brothers Films set in the 1950s Films set in the 1960s Films shot in Tennessee 2014 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films English-language independent films English-language musical drama films Films scored by Klaus Badelt 2014 musical films