3000 Miles to Graceland (2001)

Rating: 1 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

All Shook Down

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy 3000 Miles to Graceland on DVD.

Any movie about Elvis should, I don't know, do something Elvis-y. Instead this incredibly insulting movie starts out with a band of Elvis impersonators robbing a casino, then shooting each other and chasing each other across the country trying get ahold of all the loot. Kurt Russell is the good Elvis and Kevin Costner is the bad one, while Christian Slater, Bokeem Woodbine, and David Arquette play expendable sidekicks. Courteney Cox is the out-of-place love interest whose young son David Kaye is continually and sickeningly placed in danger. Directed by Demian Lichtenstein (who is, of course, a music video director), the film fails to maintain a consistent tone or clarity. The action is badly filmed and often makes little sense. Lichtenstein seems mainly interested in copying some of his favorite shots from other, better movies. The Elvis theme goes down the tubes and fails to make good use of Russell, who played the King in a 1979 movie, or Slater, who had him as a mentor in True Romance (1993). If the film had been as gleefully fun as Viva Las Vegas (1964), we might have had something, but 3000 Miles to Graceland is mean and useless.

Starring: Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner, Christian Slater, Bokeem Woodbine, David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, David Kaye, Kevin Pollak, Jon Lovitz, Howie Long, Thomas Haden Church, Ice-T
Written by: Demian Lichtenstein, Richard Recco, Eric Manes
Directed by: Demian Lichtenstein
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, sexuality and language
Running Time: 125 minutes
Date: February 23, 2001