Movie review: Frost/Nixon

Anybody who knows anything about history knows about the Watergate scandal and the resignation of President Richard Nixon. What not that many people know about are the interviews done of him by British talk show host David Frost. The movie Frost/Nixon examines the process that Frost and his people went through preparing for and conducting the interviews. At first this may not seem like the most interesting plot for a movie but believe me it is.

When people think about a bad President they usually think of George W. Bush. But when Nixon was accused of covering up people's involvement with Watergate and giving people hush money it was a huge deal. Then he was nearly impeached and because of this became the first sitting President to resign from office.

Of course after he was out of office many people wanted to interview him mainly to see if they could get some sort of confession out of him. So that's what David Frost set out to do and at the same time Nixon and his people set out to make Nixon look like the good guy. For those that haven't seen the movie or the interviews I won't give anything away but what happens shocks a lot of people.

The movie is directed by Ron Howard and he does his usual outstanding job. Some people have said this might be his best movie but I think that's a bit of a stretch. To me his best movie is probably Apollo 13. But this does rank up there easily in his top 5. It is very well written and very well shot and put together.

The cast is also top notch. It includes Michael Sheen as David Frost, Frank Langella as Richard Nixon, Kevin Bacon as Nixon's former Chief of Staff, and Oliver Platt as one of Frost's close colleagues. Of course all of the buzz is around Frank Langella and all of it is very well placed. Now he didn't win the Golden Globe but I'd say right now he is the hands down front runner to win the Oscar. He really embodies Richard Nixon and like Jamie Foxx in Ray you really can lose yourself in his role. there are times when he is facing away from the camera and he only see him from the back but he looks just like Nixon with the posture and the slumped shoulders. Then in close up shots he got his facial expressions and mannerisms down perfect. The voice is a little iffy but it's not to the point where it sounds like a bad impression. I usually have a good eye for which performances will win the Oscar and I'm putting my prediction with Frank Langella.

But I think the thing Langella does best is to humanize Nixon. Most people see him as this gruff character who didn't care about anybody. But Langella plays him as a bit of a sad and broken man who was forced to give up the thing he'd worked his whole life to achieve.

Of course Michael Sheen should not be discounted at all. He gives a very good performance. I was watching the original Nixon Watergate interview and the resemblance between the two of them is almost uncanny. Not only do they look very much alike but the voices are almost spot on. I doubt he will win any awards for this role but he definitely has to be commended for really capturing his character.

Now a movie with a subject like this could easily drag on or get boring. But Frost/Nixon does not do either of those. You get a good amount of character development and everything stays interesting and fresh and you want to see what happens next. But one complaint I do have is they really didn’t go that deep into David’s relationship with his girlfriend and her character was never developed too much. But I can understand that with everything else going on in this movie there is a risk of it seeming crowded or her subplot getting in the way of the main story. I personally would like to have known more about her but I think they probably cut that down for the best reasons.

Now the meat of everything comes in the interviews. When I saw the movie I had not yet seen them so I didn't know what to expect. I think Ron Howard has this ability to illicit suspense even when people know what's going to happen, like he did to great effect in Apollo 13. He also this does very well in Frost/Nixon and at times you are almost on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next and to see if they can make him crack. When the film does come to its climax you feel very satisfied and I think even if I had seen the interviews beforehand I still would have been just as interested in seeing what happens next.

If you are a fan of Ron Howard's movies definitely see this one. If you are at all interested in Richard Nixon or Watergate it's definitely worth a look. But probably one of the best reasons is to see probably the best performance by an actor for all of 2008.

My score: 8.0/10