Frost/Nixon Review

Frost/Nixon is "a dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon," that's directed by Academy Award winning director Ron Howard. Aside from all the glowing reviews that have surrounded this film for months, and subsequent Oscar Nominations, the main reasons I went to see it were Matthew MacFadyen and Sam Rockwell; two brilliant but not as well known actors, a producer and a researcher, respectively, that work with Frost to develop questions and information for the interview and "give Nixon the trial he never got." I was in no rush to see this film, but after it was nominated for Best Picture I was compelled to see it, since I had seen all the other nominees. It is a legitimately enjoyable and enteraining film, based on true events which certainly keeps you enthralled, though the outcome was already known to whoever was around during the era or anyone with access to youtube. I was hesitant about seeing the film because I thought it would be preachy and pretentious and incredibly politically oriented, and after living through a monumentally historic election season, I wanted to escape all that when going to the movies. Though F/N is steeped in political history, it's truly the story of 2 men trying to rejuventate, revitalize and rehabilitate the public image the world has of them for the better, but only 1 is capable of doing so. While Frank Langella is nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, I thought Michael Sheen was positively brilliant as David Frost in a very subtle and in no way over the top portrayal of a man, no one took seriously as a journalist. Rockwell, MacFadyen, and Oliver Platt were unexpectedly hilarious and played marvelously off each other, while Kevin Bacon once again brought the goods as Nixon's confidante and primary Secret Service Agent. If political history interests you go see this film, and if you're interested in seeing great performances & obviously well executed filmaking, definitely fo see this film.

My rating: 9/10