Movie Reviews

Universal Pictures

Review in a Hurry: A frequently tepid post-Watergate docudrama that's buoyed by two knockout performances.

The Bigger Picture: In this corner, lightweight British chat show host David Frost (Michael Sheen, The Queen); in that corner, disqualified (but still formidable) heavyweight former President Richard M. Nixon (Frank Langella). Frost's career is on the skids, and he wants to claw his way back into the limelight; Nixon wants to redeem his legacy. Frost wants the big interview "get" of the day; Nixon wants an interviewer he can push around. Both want to be taken seriously again; each has to beat the other to do it.

As simple a recipe as that might seem, Frost/Nixon suffers from some severe drag. The backstage machinations that make the interview happen aren't as interesting as the director (Ron Howard) and screenwriter (Peter Morgan) would have you believe—this is no Quiz Show—nor do they do much to raise the stakes no matter how leveraged the self-financed Frost becomes. In-character interview segments designed to provide context come across as self-aggrandizing and frequently kill the story's natural momentum.

But like a boxing match, it's not the preshow pomp that's the draw, it's the main event. And here Frost/Nixon delivers.

Sheen's Frost is driven by ambitions to fame and blithe spirit but tempered by an ambivalent self-awareness; he knows what he wants but suffers nagging doubts as to what kind of person that makes him. And Langella's Nixon is, well, Nixon: a shambling creature, outwardly statesmanlike, privately vindictive, a dominating presence capable of disarming charm and surprising emotion. 

If there were an Oscar for Best Duo, Sheen and Langella would be at the top of a very short list. Their scenes together—from their tentative early meetings to the climactic on-camera interviews—are note-perfect and fascinatingly nuanced studies in conflict, subtext bubbling through with every gesture. A lot of this film about making TV seems very made-for-TV, but when Frost/Nixon is about Frost and Nixon, you'll be glad to have Nixon to kick around one last time. 

The 180—a Second Opinion: Frost/Nixon may do a fine job of making leads of two character actors, but the rest of the cast seems lost; Oliver Platt, Sam Rockwell and Kevin Bacon have undistinguished characters unworthy of the leads' transformative performances.