On December 21, 1970, an improbable meeting occurred in the Oval Office of the White House. Elvis Presley, the "King" of rock-and-roll met the President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon. It was Elvis himself who instigated the meeting for what appears to be the sincere purpose of assisting the government on the war on drugs. The outlandish request of the pop singer was to be made an "agent-at-large" for the investigation of drug abuse, wherein the singer would go undercover in the interests of justice. Astonishingly, Nixon and the White House staff went along with Presley's request in return for a signed photo for Nixon's daughter Julie, as well as a promotional photo with Elvis shaking hands with Nixon that was released at a later time. According to the film, the photo of Nixon and Elvis is the most requested photograph in the National Archives.Ironically, at the time of the White House visit, Elvis was already under the influence of drugs that would eventually take his life in 1977. One of the flaws of the film is that it was not made clear that Elvis was a drug user at the time. One need only to look at the Nixon-Presley photo and focus on Elvis's eyes to see that he was on the way to becoming a junkie.Despite its shortcomings, the film was light entertainment that included two good performances from Michael Shannon as Elvis and Kevin Spacey as Nixon. The actors both delivered understated interpretations and avoided over-the-top caricature. In perhaps the most memorable moment of the Oval Office conversation between the two titans, Nixon describes how he and Elvis share the common background of coming from humble origins to rise to the top of the ladder in their respective fields of politics and entertainment. Only in America!!!

I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. My wife skipped, her loss because this is a very good and entertaining movie.Today we can read about it in the archives, in December of 1970 Elvis and a couple of his friends went to D.C., gave a letter that Elvis had written, for the White House guards to have delivered to President 'Tricky Dickie' Nixon (who a few years later resigned in a scandal). It seems that Elvis collected badges and he wanted one from the USA's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. What started out as Nixon requesting that the meeting, during his lunch hour, be limited to 5 minutes he found Elvis so fascinating that they met for much longer. Michael Shannon, superb actor in a variety of roles, is Elvis. As he said in the DVD extra he wasn't trying to do an impression of Elvis, instead he wanted to portray him in a way that was authentic to the character.And one of my personal favorites, Kevin Spacey is Nixon and from the voice and the mannerisms it was almost like seeing the real Richard Nixon.The movie is very interesting and entertaining, much more than I expected going into it. What may seem like a rather dry topic for a movie turns out to be much, much more than that.

I know that Michael Shannon did not give us the Elvis. But, that is not the point. I honestly think that you should watch this movie right now because, it's gentle and heart-warming movie. I'm not American and i don't know about Richard Nixon. I don't know about the impersonation. But he absolutely is giving the edge to the movie. Those two guys combination was good and the dynamic back and forth script helps too.it's a legit good watch movie. i know that Elvis is so iconic but we never got that part right and i think this time it's right (except for the look). i wouldn't say it's the best out of Elvis that we can see but it is totally worth seeing! overall: it's funny. it's charming (literally!), and hell yeah

Yes Nixon met The King way back in 1970 and this is a recreation of how that came about and what happened when the King met Mr Watergate himself in the Oval Office. Now this is very amusing indeed and for the most part the period detail and make up are all excellent. Kevin Spacey as Nixon is just superb – as always. I am also a big fan of Michael Shannon believing him to be a great character actor – but this was a stretch for him which he did very well for the most part.Jonny Knoxville also appears as does Colin Hanks and they are all spot on, however Alex Pettyfer as Elvis's friend Jerry got the most interesting role – with space to grow and give a fine performance. There has been some chatter about the veracity of this film but I am firmly in the camp that says 'never let the truth get in the way of a good story' and by jingo this is a ruddy good story – recommended.