The Identical (2014)

Twin brothers are unknowingly separated at birth; one of them becomes an iconic rock 'n' roll star, while the other struggles to balance his love for music and pleasing his father.

Director:

Dustin Marcellino

Writers:

Wade Cummins, Howard Klausner

Stars:

Blake Rayne, Ray Liotta, Ashley Judd

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ray Liotta	...	Reece Wade
Ashley Judd	...	Louise Wade
Seth Green	...	Dino
Joe Pantoliano	...	Avi Hirshberg
Blake Rayne	...	Ryan Wade / Drexel Hemsley
Erin Cottrell	...	Jenny O'Brien
Brian Geraghty	...	William Hemsley
Amanda Crew	...	Helen Hemsley
Waylon Payne	...	Tony Nash
Danny Woodburn	...	Damon
Chris Mulkey	...	William Hemsley (Older)
Noah Urrea	...	Ryan Wade (9 Years)
Gary Beaty	...	Steve Douglas
Caylin Cervetti	...	Angela
Ken Dodge	...	Sergeant

Storyline

In 1935, William and Helen Hemsley (Brian Geraghty, Amanda Crew) welcome identical twin boys into the world. But their joy is quickly tempered by a sobering realization; how could they give these children any kind of a life beyond the desperate poverty that haunted many families in the midst of the Great Depression? When evangelist Reece Wade (Ray Liotta) reveals that he and his wife Louise (Ashley Judd) cannot have children, William feels the Lord's prompting to give them one of the infant boys. Both brothers are born with passion, drive and awesome musical talent, but take very separate, yet converging paths. Drexel Hemsley (Blake Rayne) rises like a comet and changes the music world forever. His adopted brother, Ryan Wade (also played by Blake Rayne) struggles to find the purpose for his life. All the way into manhood he wrestles with pleasing Reverend Wade, his loving but controlling father, who is convinced his son Ryan is called into the ministry. Ryan is encouraged by his ...

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Plot Keywords:

flashback | alabama | cotton field | whiskey | twins | 

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Taglines:

If He is in your dreams, nothing can stand against Him.

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material and smoking

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ray Liotta and Amanda Crew previously starred together in the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud, but shared no screen time together.

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Goofs

In the cemetery scene on the gravestones, Drexel Hemsley was born on February 12, 1936 and Dexter Ryan Hemsley was born on October 4, 1935 (and lived one day) but they are twins?! They should be born on the same day (or adjacent days). This is either a major prop screw up or an actual cemetery plot (legality?) and the mother was having twins but lost one child in the 5th month and successfully carried the other to term most likely with hospital involvement and not just a home setting. Regardless, these different dates do not fit the story under any scenario. It would seem like neighbors would know they had twins born on the same day.

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Connections

Referenced in Midnight Screenings: Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas (2014)

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Soundtracks

Christ the Lord Has Risen Today
Performed by The Christ Church Choir, Nashville
Written by Charles Wesley
Traditional

User Reviews

The first inspirational film without a message?

Let me say, I don't mind schmaltz. I don't at all mind films with a message. But THE IDENTICAL was written by someone with no narrative skill, and the film's clichés are less bothersome than its total failure to make any use of its premise. It's hard to explain how badly the film stumbles in this regard without detailing the plot, but suffice to say I truly see no message that one could take away from it.

Yes, it's a film that details tangentially with faith, but the characters' religious values impact the story in no fundamental way. You could have made the "identical"'s father a lawyer for all the difference it actually makes. And the reference to the Six Day War is a total non sequitur.

But at film's end, no real lessons have been learned (even those who find themselves in the rather unlikely situation that the protagonist faces will find little of value here), no points have been made, and our time has been pretty thoroughly wasted.

I could talk about how bad the performances by Ray Liotta, Seth Green, and Joe Pantoliano are, or how Ashley Judd barely ages over 40+ years, or how the period detail is incredibly haphazard, or how creepy the serenade-courtship scene is, but I'll settle for saying this:

Calling this film inspirational because its characters are Christians is like calling The Wolf of Wall Street patriotic because its characters are Americans.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 September 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Identical

Filming Locations:

Nashville, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,587,137, 7 September 2014

Gross USA:

$2,827,666

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,840,991

Company Credits

Production Co:

City of Peace Films, Identical Production Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Color:

Color Black and White