Sometimes, I know you do this. You go to the video store, and tell yourself that you want to rent something intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking. Something with gravitas, meaning; a sense of purpose. The type of movie that compels you to have a long conversation with your family or significant other about the meaning of life, our purpose in existing, and other such Really Big Thoughts.

Then the weight of reality kicks in, and you rent a movie where Elvis and John Fitzgerald Kennedy fight against an ancient Egyptian mummy out to steal peoples' souls through their rectum. After all, there's time enough to worry about important stuff. You crave mindless entertainment, something where logic need not intervene, and your brain just doesn't have to pay attention for a while.

Okay, so maybe it didn't quite work that way for you; maybe you decided to rent Bikini Babes from Nymphonia or The Attack of the Killer Swamp Beast or some equally improbable concept of a movie. The point of all this is to demonstrate that certain movies exist for a reason, whether for cheap laughs, mindless titillation, or an affinity for dick jokes. It is in this context that I come to you to discuss the "Elvis and JFK fight mummy" concept offered to us in the 2003 film, Bubba Ho-Tep, written and directed by Don Coscarelli and starring Bruce Campbell and Ossie Davis.

Bubba Ho-Tep operates on an initially odd-ball premise, and the tale only gets more ridiculous from there. Bruce Campbell plays the role of one Stebastian Hoff, an aging, infirmed man who is actually Elvis Presley. You see, Hoff was an Elvis impersonator, and, after Elvis grew weary of fame, traded places with the King. Presley then lived on as Mr. Hoff.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck, and, in a series of absurd mishaps, the King of Rock and Roll wound up with a busted hip, in a coma, convalescing in a piddly little rest home in a podunk town in Texas. On top of that, he lost any proof that he is who he claims to be. The nurses all think he's some crazy old man, addled by dementia and convinced he's Elvis.

Only one man believes his story: an apparent crazy old black man who believes he is John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis). "Jack", as he prefers to be called, was not killed, but instead had all kinds of atrocities performed on him back in 1963 by Vice President Johnson, including the dyeing of his skin (after all, how could they believe a black man was really JFK).

Everyone, including Elvis, is convinced that this guy is just some crazy. However, when strange doings occur at Thee Olde Retirement Home (including giant bugs flying around, hieroglyphic graffiti in the bathroom, and, oh yeah, a little matter of a mummy stealing peoples' souls), Jack seems to be the only man with the answers. But he needs help; one man in a wheelchair won't be enough to stop the mummy man. He needs...The King.

If you read all that, and think the movie sounds like a good time, you will most likely enjoy it. The story pretty much writes itself from there, and most of the gags (barring, perhaps, the somewhat tasteless sub-plot of the functionality of the Presley penis) will be obvious enough in a campy way as to be amusing. Neither actor really tries to capture the mannerisms of their real-life counterparts, instead choosing to vamp up the film is classic B-movie fashion.

On the other hand...if you read the above plot synopsis and think the movie sounds dumb, you will probably find the movie to be...well, dumb. No effort toward realism is made in the movie (and for the budget, was most likely impossible), and the plot is absurd pretty much from Act I, Scene I.

Still, if you are willing to overlook the gaping plot holes, relatively amateurish directing of Coscarelli, and the minimalist special effects, you could find a campy but fun B-horror/comedy with little redeeming value, yet still entertaining. It isn't a classic or anything, but it is a good bit of fun.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older