Nicolas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Caan
Elvis lives. Or at least his memory gives a great comic performance in this light-spirited, literate romantic comedy directed and written by that modern-day Preston Sturges, Andrew (The Freshman) Bergman.
Cage, much less surly than usual but still unlikely to make anyone forget Cary Grant, is a compulsively gambling New York City private eye who elopes to Las Vegas with Parker. They end up in the middle of an Elvis impersonators' convention, which provides a marvelous comic backdrop.
There's a potentially sleazy sort of plot twist when Cage pays off a poker bet by giving Parker to big-time gambler Caan for a weekend. But Caan goes light on the lechery, and Bergman—who never resorts to cheap sex-or obscenity-based humor—doesn't really compromise Parker enough to make Cage seem reprehensible, even when Caan takes Parker to his beach house in Hawaii. When Cage follows, he ends up confronting Peter Boyle, charcteristically droll as an aging, hippielike Hawaiian chief.
Cage also runs into an amusing troupe of skydiving Elvises. (Their climactic jump, wearing jumpsuits fringed with electric lights, is a memorable bit of visual comedy.)
Even the sound track of this film is a delight, devoted to Elvis hits—by Presley and by modern singers.
There aren't that many movies these days that are likely to put both a smile on your face and a song in your heart. (PG-13)
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