''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 and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

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. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by Dustin Marcellino and written by Howard Klausner. The film was released theatrically in the United States on September 5, 2014.

Plot

After Helen and William Hemsley give birth to

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

boys, the brothers are separated at birth during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Drexel Hemsley becomes an iconic 1950s

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or 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 Africa ...

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

* Blake Rayne as Drexel Hemsley and Dexter Hemsley / Ryan Wade **

Noah Urrea Noah Jacob Urrea (born March 31, 2001) is an American singer, actor, composer, dancer and model. He became world famous after becoming a member of the global pop group Now United, representing the USA. In 2022 he left the group to focus on his ...

as Dexter / Ryan at age 9 *

Ray Liotta Raymond Allen Liotta (; December 18, 1954 – May 26, 2022) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Shoeless Joe Jackson in ''Field of Dreams'' (1989) and Henry Hill in Martin Scorsese's ''Goodfellas'' (1990). He was a Primeti ...

as Reece Wade *

Ashley Judd Ashley Judd (born Ashley Tyler Ciminella; April 19, 1968) is an American actress. She grew up in a family of performing artists: she is the daughter of the late country music singer Naomi Judd and the half-sister of country music singer Wynonna ...

as Louise Wade * Seth Green as Dino ** Ian Mitchell as 9-year-old Dino *

Joe Pantoliano Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions. After his early roles in the television series ''M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy ''Risky Busin ...

as Avi Hirshberg *

Erin Cottrell Erin Cottrell (born August 24, 1975) is an American actress who has appeared in the role of Missie LaHaye in five of the eight films in the ''Love Comes Softly'' series. She was born in Yardley, Pennsylvania. She acted in '' Love's Long Journey ...

as Jenny O'Brien *

Brian Geraghty Brian Timothy Geraghty (born May 13, 1975) is an American actor, known for his roles in the 2005 film '' Jarhead'', the 2008 film ''The Hurt Locker'', and in the 2012 film ''Flight'', along with his recurring role in the HBO drama series '' Board ...

as William Hemsley **

Chris Mulkey Chris Mulkey (born May 3, 1948) is an American film and television actor. Career Mulkey played the supporting role of husband to Annie Potts's character in '' Any Day Now'' from 1998 to 2002. He has also appeared in '' Captain Phillips'', '' ...

as Old William *

Amanda Crew Amanda Catherine Crew (born June 5, 1986) is a Canadian actress. Following her film debut in ''Final Destination 3'' (2006), she had lead roles as Felicia Alpine in ''Sex Drive (film), Sex Drive'' (2008) and Tess Carroll in ''Charlie St. Cloud (f ...

as Helen Hemsley *

Waylon Payne Waylon Malloy Payne (born April 5, 1972) is an American country singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He is the son of the country singer Sammi Smith. Early life Payne was born in Nashville, Tennessee, the son of guitarist Jody Payne and Grammy ...

as Tony Nash *

Danny Woodburn Daniel Charles Woodburn (born July 26, 1964) is an American actor, comedian, and activist for the disability rights movement linked to his dwarfism. He played Mickey Abbott on the sitcom '' Seinfeld''. He has more than 150 television and 30 ...

as Damon

Release

Critical reception

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

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American 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, and Stephen Wang ...

, 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 a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, 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. Copies are sold at $2 daily or at $3 ...

'': "

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

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 ( Davenport, Bettendorf and Scott County in Iowa; and Moline, East Moline, Rock Island and Rock Isla ...

'' 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 ''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama pulp noir film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas. The film stars Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera. Produced ...

" 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 novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

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

References

External links

* * * *
Movie Review: The Identical
{{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