It turns out that Elvis never did leave the building. In \Bubba Ho-Tep"" he switched lives with an Elvis impersonator (Bruce Campbell) after becoming fed up with his life and then missed his chance to switch back when the impersonator died.
Elvis now lives a miserable life in a Texas nursing home and befriends another patient who claims to be President John F. Kennedy (Ossie Davis), even though he is black. (""They dyed my skin,"" he explains.) Elvis and JFK then team up to battle the spirit of an Egyptian mummy (Bob Ivy), who has picked their rest home as a feeding ground for the souls he needs to stay alive.
Although it fails to be one of the great B-movies, ""Bubba Ho-Tep"" comes close, mainly due to the conviction of the actors, particularly Bruce Campbell.
If the audience is to believe the story, it is essential the actors dive head first into their roles and never look back. Given the material, it is entirely possible for the character of Elvis to become cartoonish and exaggerated. To the contrary, and to the credit of director Don Coscarelli, Campbell portrays The King as an unfortunate and lonely person, narrating his decline with sadness and depth. It is for the best that the audience never sees Elvis sing, as the focus is on Elvis the person, rather than Elvis the entertainer.
Much of what makes the film work is Campbell's performance, which is far better here than as the one-dimensional Ash from the ""Evil Dead"" series. Davis as JFK is also compelling, but could have enjoyed more screen time. Perhaps Coscarelli could have expounded on the conspiracy theories of his attempted assassination.
There are a lot of things that work in ""Bubba Ho-Tep,"" and whatever does not is forgivable due to the fact that the film has such originality and humor that it overrides the content that occasionally crosses the line from fantastical to just plain silly. There is much praise to be given to any movie with such an audacious concept to begin with, and even more praise to be given to the movie that manages to turn out such an enjoyable product.
