ViewGuide

Created Nov 04, 2008 05:20PM PST • Edited May 27, 2010 10:08PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Perfect 5.0

   WATCH THE REVIEW IN WIKCHIP or read

   A geriatric “Elvis Presley” and an African American “JFK” take on an ancient Egyptian mummy donning cowboy duds in a rest home in Texas. How someone came up with this story has got to be one of the biggest wonders of the world. It’s so awesome and ridiculous at the same time. Original, new, and VERY different from anything I’ve ever seen before. It seemed like a folk story or old ghost story. Even the sub plots and characters’ back stories are great.
   
   

   Elvis was at the top of his game in the early 70s. Known all around the world, starred in numerous movies, released numerous records and received an over abundance of fans and awards as well. He made more money than he could ever imagine but along with all of his fame and fortune came the down side also. His friends would leach off of him, he got into a bad crowd and became addicted to pills and narcotics. Elvis was the King of Rock n Roll but he couldn’t be the father and husband he wanted for his family so in a desparate attempt for him to save himself, he signed over his life earnings, and his name to an Elvis impersantor named Sebastian Haff who was the one that died in ‘77. The only stipulation that Elvis put in the contract was that he could return to his life at anytime he wanted to. Unfortunately, the “real” Elvis lost his contract in a BBQ accident and was stuck being an impersonator of himself. He didn’t mind it and enjoyed it quite a bit until he took a nasty spill off a stage messing his hip up something awful thus leaving him stuck in a bed for most of his days just waiting to die at the Muddy Creek Rest Home.
   
   

   Now Elvis has been trying to tell the staff at the home that he IS Elvis but they believe he is certifiably insane and how can you blame them? They have a man known only as Kemosabe who believes he is The Lone Ranger and wears a mask all the time. Then we have the former president John F. Kennedy residing at the same home also. Only he’s a black man who claims that Lyndon Johnson setup the “attempted” assassination and also removed the bullet and part of his brain matter and replaced it with a bag of sand then dyed his skin color to make him look like Ossie Davis.
   
   

   Now you have all these great characters making all these crazy claims yet there are just somethings that heavily support their claims as well. "Elvis’ " story seems to fit pretty well together and the things he thinks about seem like the same priorities the real Elvis would’ve been concerned of. “JFK” does in fact have what appears to be a deep incision scar on the back of his head and he shares with us, his thoughts on time spent with Marilyn Monroe. With all the humor and terrific story telling and decent acting from just this, we then enter our story.
   
   
   
   The rest home unknowingly has been hosting its residents to a soul sucking ancient mummy that was placed in the area as a result of a “mummy heist” gone wrong. How long old Bubba Ho-Tep has been around the home taking the lives and souls of its elderly patients, is not determined but when he makes an attempt to take JFK’s soul, the duo of Elvis and JFK come to the agreement that it is time to “Take Care of Business”.
   
   
   
   With all the humor, good acting, great story, and good music, I can’t help but praise Bubba Ho-Tep with nothing but good things. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. If you are a fan of fun, make-believe stories and have an interest in either JFK or Elvis, you will either like or love this movie.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   So we have Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis who both do an amazing job on this film. The chemistry between the two is great and there were a few times in the movie where I thought that Bruce really was Elvis! Now I’m a huge Elvis fan, so for me to say I thought Campbell was Elvis must mean something. He uses the accent but he doesn’t overdo it just like with all of Elvis’ other mannerisms. The curled lip, saying “Thank you very much”, you know just everything that Elvis was known for. Campbell does them but he does them one or two times only which doesn’t wear it out or make it unappealing.

5. Male Stars Great 4.0

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    The sets, music, and everything in this movie are fantastic. The rest home is always very dark and dirty looking which really helps describe its staff who obviously working their just because it’s a job. They show little to no care for the residents and have no kind of relationship with them at all. The musical score ranges from a heroic western-sounding rhythm to a hard rock, electric guitar pounding fight score. The film moves at what may seem like a slow pace to some and the focus of movie is more centered on living at the rest home than our geriatric crusaders battling against a mummy sporting a cowboy hat.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

13. Music Really Great 4.5

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

    Some cussing, a few sexual innuendos and little to no blood drop Bubba Ho-Tep in the mild section of the Edge department. Elvis cracks a few wise ass moments with his nurse and makes a few other innuendos but nothing that I could deem obscene or even vulgar. It’s just a perverted old man having fun.

17. Sex Titillating 2.0

18. Violence Fierce 2.0

19. Rudeness Salty 2.0

21. Reality

    Supernatural 3.5

    While the odds of Elvis and JFK both being alive are slim to none and an ancient mummy residing at a nursing home are even thinner than Nicole Richie, it’s hard to not buy into this movie’s story in some aspects. Like Elvis’ back story with the impersonator. It seems far-fetched yes but the film makes you believe that it COULD have happened. JFK still kicking but now being a dyed black man is a little over the top but with the amount of confidence that Ossie Davis portrays his character with, you look at the guy and hear him talk and he believes without a shadow of doubt that he IS JFK. It seems very surreal to me but the whole mummy thing really pushes Bubba Ho-Tep to supernatural in the end.

22. Circumstantial Supernatural 3.5

23. Biological Supernatural 3.5

24. Physical Supernatural 3.5