Movie Review: Frost/Nixon
Ron Howard Directs Universal Film With Frank Langella, Michael Sheen
Nov 11, 2008
Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon is a character study in ambition and adversity as two men – who see more in themselves than they'd like to admit – face off on a television screen. Based on the play by Peter Morgan, the film features an Oscar-worthy performance by Frank Langella as disgraced president Richard Nixon.
What's It About?
In 1976, Nixon had avoided going on trial for the Watergate scandal, but he chafes in his West Coast exile, reduced to keynote speeches for orthodontists' conventions. He wants a chance to redeem himself, to face another challenge, defeat another adversary.
He finds it from flamboyant TV presenter David Frost (Michael Sheen, reprising his Broadway role). Long dismissed as a glib hack, Frost wants a major news story to stave off a seemingly inevitable decline. He also wants what no other investigative journalist or prosecutor got from "Tricky Dick": an admission of guilt.
But Frost's associates – Bob Zelnick (Oliver Platt), John Birt (Matthew Macfadyen) and James Reston Jr. (Sam Rockwell) – don't believe Frost can take on "Tricky Dicky" in a television interview and win. How could such a lightweight succeed where so many others failed?
So Frost and Nixon collide in a war of words, recorded for all time: Frost wanting to pull an admission of guilt from Nixon, and Nixon trying to restore his shattered reputation.
Frost/Nixon An Excellent Character Study
Director Ron Howard redeems himself with this film, drawing laughs even as he takes the audience deeper into the drama that surrounds the showdown between these historical figures. Howard's smart enough to make this film about the actors, to let them bring the drama onscreen.
Oliver Platt and Kevin Bacon reassert their status as two of Hollywood's most reliable character actors, and Toby Jones is a cold and calculating Swifty Lazar. Michael Sheen also does excellent work as Frost, the blandly charming TV presenter who finds more in common with "Tricky Dicky" than he initially realized.
But the two standouts are Langella and Rockwell. Rockwell conjures the contradictions in Reston, the earnest academic: his character is obsessed with "giving Nixon the trial he never had," but is still so unnerved by the former president's raw charisma that he forgets an earlier vow never to shake Nixon's hand.
And Langella finds sympathy for that Left-Wing boogeyman Richard Nixon: the constant warrior who thinks he can still escape the ignominy that Watergate dealt him. In a stunning performance, Langella conjures a man who never escaped his own feelings of low self-worth: a feeling that both led him to the heights of the presidency but also precipitated his downfall. Frank Langella won several acting awards for his theatrical portrayal of the character, and he's certain to nab an Oscar nomination here.
Frost/Nixon is an exceptional drama, and well worth checking out. Whether you're a student of history, or just love a good movie, this film comes highly recommended. 8/10.
