I was attracted to this title because I have long been fascinated with identical twins. Although "identical" genetically, some sets behave almost exactly the same while others are quite different. I am close friends with a set who look alike but are quite different in most ways and have taken, so far, quite different paths in life.
This story plays on the concept of identical twins separated shortly after birth and growing up in different families but as adults are almost the same. There have been a number of studies over the years of such identical twins growing up quite differently but being almost the same as adults.
It starts in the 1930s when the parents of the twins can't make it financially so give one of them for adoption by the local preacher and his wife who had just witnessed that they could not have children. Because this was an unusual action the parents pretended one of the two babies had died and held a funeral, even burying an empty box and installing a headstone.
The boy grows up as Ryan Wade and his adopted father plans for him to follow the calling, become a minister. Even though Ryan goes to divinity school, his heart isn't in it, he drops out, works at blue collar jobs like delivery man or auto mechanic after his stint in the Army. Then he learns about famous singer, Drexel Hemsley, who looks exactly like him and sings the way he does (the same actor, a singer and Elvis impersonator plays both roles.)
His own career gets kick-started when his wife encourages him to enter a Drexel "sing-alike" contest which he of course wins, then gets a manager and begins his own successful career, but only by impersonating the famous Drexel, who in fact is his brother.
Ray Liotta overacts a bit as the preacher Reece Wade, but Ashley Judd is just right as the preacher's wife Louise Wade. The real life singer Blake Rayne, not an actor before this movie, plays Ryan Wade and Drexel Hemsley, but almost all the focus is on Ryan and his path to discover who he really is.
I really like this movie, Rayne's acting style is pleasant and the story has a lot of meaning.
SPOILERS: As Ryan's career as "The Identical" had taken off, Drexel's small plane crashed and he was killed. (This type of accident happened a number of times to real singers in the 1950s and 1960s.) Then Ryan's dad had a mild heart attack, in the process Ryan found a letter explaining who he really was. He had a short meeting with his birth father, now blind, at Drexel's gravesite, and later thanked his adopted father for all that he had done for him. His singing career continued.
This story plays on the concept of identical twins separated shortly after birth and growing up in different families but as adults are almost the same. There have been a number of studies over the years of such identical twins growing up quite differently but being almost the same as adults.
It starts in the 1930s when the parents of the twins can't make it financially so give one of them for adoption by the local preacher and his wife who had just witnessed that they could not have children. Because this was an unusual action the parents pretended one of the two babies had died and held a funeral, even burying an empty box and installing a headstone.
The boy grows up as Ryan Wade and his adopted father plans for him to follow the calling, become a minister. Even though Ryan goes to divinity school, his heart isn't in it, he drops out, works at blue collar jobs like delivery man or auto mechanic after his stint in the Army. Then he learns about famous singer, Drexel Hemsley, who looks exactly like him and sings the way he does (the same actor, a singer and Elvis impersonator plays both roles.)
His own career gets kick-started when his wife encourages him to enter a Drexel "sing-alike" contest which he of course wins, then gets a manager and begins his own successful career, but only by impersonating the famous Drexel, who in fact is his brother.
Ray Liotta overacts a bit as the preacher Reece Wade, but Ashley Judd is just right as the preacher's wife Louise Wade. The real life singer Blake Rayne, not an actor before this movie, plays Ryan Wade and Drexel Hemsley, but almost all the focus is on Ryan and his path to discover who he really is.
I really like this movie, Rayne's acting style is pleasant and the story has a lot of meaning.
SPOILERS: As Ryan's career as "The Identical" had taken off, Drexel's small plane crashed and he was killed. (This type of accident happened a number of times to real singers in the 1950s and 1960s.) Then Ryan's dad had a mild heart attack, in the process Ryan found a letter explaining who he really was. He had a short meeting with his birth father, now blind, at Drexel's gravesite, and later thanked his adopted father for all that he had done for him. His singing career continued.