Elvis and the Egyptian Entity
Having grown tired of the fame and having to sing the same old songs, Elvis Presley (Bruce Campbell) switched places with an Elvis impersonator to live a quiet life for a while until he was ready to return to his former life. Unfortunately he never switched back in time and he now finds himself old and living in an East Texas care home where no one believes him when he says he is Elvis other than Jack (Ossie Davis) who is convinced he is actually JFK. After a couple of residents die and Jack has a mysterious late night encounter with some thing which attacks him he, Elvis and couple of old timers join forces as they discover an ancient Egyptian entity is robbing people of their souls.
First things first and there is no denying that Bruce Campbell as an aging Elvis is a joy to watch and his inner thoughts about not having an erection in years are genuinely amusing. Amusing is also what "Bubba Ho-Tep" sounds on paper as the whole idea of Elvis having traded places with an impersonator and ending up in a care home to doing battle with a soul robbing Egyptian entity is prime for a lot of laughs and a lot of action. But sadly the finished product doesn't deliver on that potential and "Bubba Ho-Tep" ends up a movie which keeps you waiting for something to happen other than dialogue.
Unfortunately it seems that "Bubba Ho-Tep" was a movie made on a relatively small budget, I read somewhere it was just $1,000,000 which taking that into account does make it almost impressive. But what it means is that a lot of the movie is either Elvis' inner thoughts or him talking to Jack and sadly beyond learning how Elvis got there not much of it is that entertaining. Eventually we do get some action involving Elvis and the Egyptian Entity but that budget makes it feel slim and done on the cheap with a lot shot in the dark to cover things up.
What this all boils down to is that as an idea "Bubba Ho-Tep" could have been a brilliant movie and Bruce Campbell would have really shone in it. But this movie ends up disappointing due to there being too much talking and not enough action or laughs.
