Elvis Has Left the Building DVD Review:

Dark comedies are a strange phenomenon that works because of the dark side we all have in us which causes us to find humor in pain. If done right dark comedies are hilarious despite the fact that the situations would be far from funny if they were happening in real life. Unfortunately it is very easy to miss the mark, and once this happens, the humor is often lost. While watching Elvis impersonators die is often quite entertaining in Elvis Has Left the Building, somehow the film still never manages to gain enough momentum to be entertaining beyond these brief moments.

Harmony (Kim Basinger) was born at an Elvis concert and even met him as a child, so when she grows up to become a successful beauty supply saleswoman, she still feels a direct connection to him. So much of a connection that she actual believes Elvis is using her to try and retain some respect of his image by killing off Elvis impersonators. As much as Harmony tries to escape situations where she faces impersonators, she continues to run into them on their way to a convention in Vegas, and she continues to accidentally kill them.

The humor is so random that it is difficult to even appreciate what is happening. As much as I tried I could not bring myself to care about any of the characters because of the strange situations they were in. The whole thing was so surreal that there was no way for me to relate. It truly is unfortunate, because killing Elvis impersonators was such a wonderful idea, but it is wasted in a film which doesn’t try very hard to create honest characters.

Basinger wanders throughout the film in a way that seems to imply she understands how ridiculous the film is. Even as the police are chasing her in the film she seems to have a casual and calm quality of indifference about her. Other actors such as Sean Astin are completely wasted. The only useful scene with Denise Richards is one in which she dresses up as Elvis, and this is still only slightly amusing.

It would seem prudent of the actors involved to pick their projects more carefully. The only good thing about the fact that they chose this film as their bomb is the fact that nobody will see this film unless they accidentally rent it.



Ryan Izay