Review: Bubba Ho-Tep (** 1/2)

BUBBA HO-TEP
A film review by Steve Rhodes

Copyright 2003 Steve Rhodes

RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2


"Ask not what your rest home can do for you," Elvis says to fellow
octogenarian Jack Kennedy, paraphrasing the president's most famous quote.
"Ask what you can do for your nursing home." Elvis, who changed places
years ago with an Elvis impersonator, is played by Bruce Campbell, and Jack,
whose skin was dyed black to hide his true identity, is played by Ossie
Davis. Don Coscarelli's BUBBA HO-TEP -- I can state unequivocally -- is the
best comedy ever made about Elvis, JFK, a soul-sucking ancient Egyptian and
giant cockroaches. It sets a new standard for wackiness, while managing to
come up some good laughs.



Spending the end of their lives at the Shady Rest convalescent center in Mud
Creek, Texas, Elvis and Jack don't have much to do, so it's probably a good
thing that the soul sucker they named Bubba Ho-tep (Bob Ivy) shows up to
give them a little excitement. And speaking of excitement, the King's
sexual organs haven't worked in decades, but, when a short-skirted woman
comes into his room, Elvis finally gets a little excited. When she bends
way over to pick up something, he tells us in voice-over that his private
part "fluttered once again like a pigeon having a heart attack."



Bubba Ho-tep is a naughty boy. Besides killing nursing home guests by
extracting their souls, he also writes in hieroglyphics on bathroom stall
walls. Using a dictionary from his room, Jack translates the graffiti for
Elvis. It says something on the order of "Cleopatra does the nasty."



Although it is quite funny at first, the film can't sustain the humor.
Weirdness has its limits, and BUBBA HO-TEP starts dying before the story
gets into its second half.



BUBBA HO-TEP runs 1:32. It is rated R for "language, some sexual content
and brief violent images" and would be acceptable for teenagers



The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, October 10, 2003.
In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the Camera Cinemas.



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