Movie #93 - 3000 Miles to Graceland

"Crime is King."

A funny little movie about a bunch of robbers hoping to rob a Las Vegas casino, posing as Elvis impersonators. There are a number of quirky scenes in this film and a number of great cameo performances by the likes of Ice-T, David Arquette, Christian Slater, and John Lovitz.

Overall, the movie falls quite flat. I don't know what era you could include this movie in, but Kevin Costner has done a number of really bad films in the current decade and since the turn of the century, has not hit his stride in comparison to his ability to touch gold in the late 80's and early 90's. Same goes for Kurt Russell, although at least Russell has found some niche roles in some major blockbusters and children's films in recent years, not to mention appearing in some cult movies such as Deathproof.

I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to find and watch this movie, mainly because it is filled with a number of big name television and movie actors and actresses, however, the interaction between Russell and Costner makes this a bad film in the end. The concept is hilarious and the twists and turns of the plot should make for a clever film overall, however, for some strange reason, this movie takes a melodramatic turn in the last 30 minutes which will leave viewers with a sour taste for the entire film.

I would've liked to see more emphasis on the Elvis angle, more focus on the fun behind robbing a casino dressed up like Elvis - instead, the focus was on character development and the supposed evil side brewing inside of Costner's character. This gets lost somewhere in the plot and storyline as the movie almost plays out like its two separate films. In the end, the concept works, but the movie doesn't... which goes to show once again with "money grab" type films - you need a solid script and plot, the cast really doesn't matter.

I would like to see Costner and Russell team up again in the future if at all possible. Both are well beyond their years as leading role actors, but I think they could excel in a role built for their strengths. As with any set of actors on the downward swing, roles in a war movie or historical time piece can really hit it big with the die-hard fans - something both tried to do with their take on the Wild West in the mid 90's with Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. If I had to put these two actors together in a film again, another Western could be the way to go.