LONELY STREET

Lonely Street, the novel by Steve Brewer is a pretty good read. Lonely Street, the movie starring Jay Mohr is a pretty bad movie and not bad in a "so bad it's good" way, just bad in a suck-ass way. The author has stated he pictured Nic Cage in the lead role and while that would certainly have helped the movie tremendously, the direction and writing of Lonely Street is so terrible I don't think even Cage could have saved this film from being a stinker. 

I knew going into Lonely Street that the movie, as is the usual case, would not be as good as the book. However, first time writer/director Peter Ettinger changed the whole concept of the book making Lonely Street almost unrecognizable from its source material. The book is about private eye Bubba Mabry being hired to work security for a Mr. Aaron (Elvis) who is being tracked by tabloid magazines. Elvis wants to remain out of the public eye and needs to know who is watching him. The movie has Elvis ready for his big comeback, but on his own terms.

There's an abundance of bad jokes and bad acting, to go along with the bad writing and directing of Lonely Street, making really only one reason to watch this film - Robert Patrick (Terminator 2, The X-Files, etc) as Elvis. With some prosthetics added, his portrayal of what Elvis would look and act like at the age of 72 is uncanny.  He was so good, I thought I had been watching an Elvis impersonator until the credits rolled at the end. In a side note, Robert Patrick also starred as Elvis' father Vernon in the TV movie Elvis, so maybe he has a gift for playing elderly Presleys.

I can't imagine who would enjoy this movie, unless it's fans of Jay Mohr, and even then, they may just come away being embarrassed for him. My recommendation for Lonely Street is, if you want to see a good movie about an aged Elvis, then you should watch Bubba Ho-Tep